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DANGERS TO HEALTH. 


I 


“ In matters of prevention, knowledge is power.” 

Dr. Burdon Sanderson, 

Harveian Oration. 

“ A few scratches with a pen are better than whole pages of 

the most elaborate description.” Mrs. Jameson, 

Legends of the Madonna. 

“ Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem 
“ Quam quse sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.” 

IIor. Epist. ad Pisones, l. ISO. 

“ Things by the ear received, men’s minds excite 
“ Much less than when submitted to the sight; 

“ For the spectator, witlnliis trusty eyes, 

“ To his own mind impressions best applies.” 

Translated by Andrew Wood, M.D. 


DANGERS TO HEALTH 


A PICTORIAL GUIDE 


DOMESTIC 


SANITARY DEFECTS, 



BY 


TEALE, 


M.A., 


BURGEON TO THE GENERAL INFIRMARY AT LEEDS. 


THIRD EDITION . 



> > 


PHILADELPHIA : 

Presley Blakiston, 1012, Walnut Street. 




TI ^° 5 

T 3 

\*el 










THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, 


whose members, in the matter of health, public and private, 
have deemed it their duty—not only to restore, but to 
conserve,—not only to remedy, but to prevent,—not only 
to place their labours at the service of present suffering, 
but, pointing out through evil report and good report 
the sources of such suffering, to spend their energies 
in averting some of the thousand ills that flesh is heir to. 





PREFACE 


TO 

THE THIRD EDITION. 


Were any testimony needed to shew the increasing 
interest taken by the public in such common-place matters as 
drains and waste-pipes, it is to he found in the fact, that in 
two years and a half two editions of such a work on the 
subject as the present have been exhausted. 

The interval which has elapsed since the publication of 
the first edition has given me increased opportunities of 
acquiring information about drainage defects. In fact, I 
have been a sort of centre to which such information has 
gravitated, and many of my friends and professional 
brethren tell me with pride and evident satisfaction of 
their sanitary discoveries, feeling that they were conferring 
upon me a welcome favour by telling me of some “ new 
fault ” for my hook. 

In this manner the material has been gathered for the 
increase of the number of plates from 55 to 70, and for the 
replacement of six of the old ones by new ones. Some 
additional “ defects ” which I could not render in picture 
without increasing the price of the hook, some also which 
defied my attempts to translate into a picture, are described 
at the end of the hook, catalogue fashion. By these 
additions I hope to have in some measure achieved the 



Yin. 


object which I set before me, and to have made the work a 
nearly exhaustive catalogue of sanitary defects, so that if 
ever a householder, architect, or sanitary engineer, having 
searched for ordinary defects, has failed to detect the fault, he 
may use this book as a sampler by which to test the presence 
or absence of extraordinary ones. 

If in any case my reader or critic knows of important 
defects which are not here recorded, or has better advice 
to give, let me say with Horace : 

“ Si quid novisti rectius istis 
“ Candidus imperfci, si non, his utere mecum.” 

Ep. /., vi., 67. 

» * 

Or in the words of my friend the late Dr. Andrew Wood: 

‘ ‘ If precepts better you should know, 

“ On me them candidly, I pray, bestow ; 

‘ ‘ But if with my instructions you agree, 

“ At once adopt and practise them with me.” 

Lastly, let me express my great obligations to those who 
have kindly contributed information on which this enlarged 
edition is based, to Mr. Burton the lithographer, whose skill 
and care have again been at my service, and to my friend 
Mr. It. N. Hartley, who has given me much help and many 
suggestions in carrying this edition through the press. 


« 


Leeds, June, 1881. 


INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION. 


When, two years ago, yielding to the urgent request of the 
Rev. J. H. McCheane, President of the Leeds Philosophical 
and Literary Society, I undertook to read a lecture before 
that Society and chose as the subject “ Dangers to Health in 
our own Houses,” I little thought of publishing a book, still 
less an illustrated book, on a subject which at first sight may 
appear to be outside the lines of my strictly professional work. 

However, the truth of the matter is this, that having 
discovered and rectified one by one numerous defects of 
drainage in my own house, and in property under my charge, 
and having further traced illness amongst my patients to 
scandalous carelessness and gross dishonesty in drain work, I 
became indignantly alive to the fact that very few houses are 
safe to live in. Moreover, the conviction struck deeply into 
my mind that probably one-third, at least, of the incidental 
illness of the kingdom, including perhaps much of childbed 
illness, and some of the fatal results of surgical operations in 
hospitals and private houses, (“surgical calamities” Sir James 
Paget would call them,) are the direct result of drainage 
defects, and therefore can be and ought to be prevented. 
“ Preventive medicine” has long been proclaiming such facts, 
and long have we turned a deaf ear, and we of the medical 
profession in general are only just beginning to see the great 
reality of her teaching. 

If any one challenges this assertion in reference to my own 
profession, I will reply by the inquiry—How many medical 
men can he tell me of who understand the sanitary condition 
of their own house , or have adequately ascertained that those 
conditions are, as far as our knowledge at present goes, free 
from dangers to health P If by any possibility it could be 




X. 


brought about that every medical man in the kingdom should 
realise the necessity for looking into the state of his own house, 
and act upon that conviction, I feel certain that the discovery 
would be made in so great a proportion of instances that they 
were living over pent-up pestilence that we should at once 
have an army of sanitarians earnest and keen to ferret out 
unsuspected sources of illness. I take it that not a little of 
the lively interest recently aroused in Leeds in sanitary work 
may be traced to the fact that many of the medical men of this 
town have recently gone into the question of the sanitation of 
their houses, and have thereby become more keenly alive to 
possible sources of illness among their patients. 

Hence it came about that the lecture was given which was 
the forerunner of this book. The lecture was delivered by 
request six times in Leeds, once in Knaresbro,’ and once in 
Shipley. It was published by request of the Leeds Philosophical 
Society, and has had an extensive circulation. 

The interest taken in the lecture and the comments and 
discussion to which it gave rise taught me two tilings: 

Firstly , that if we are ever to have sound sanitary legislation, 
if Ave are ever to have our sanitary arrangements carried out 
in first-rate workmanship, it must be by the education of the 
public in the details of domestic sanitary matters , so that, 
realising their vital importance, knowing what ought to be 
avoided, and able to judge of the correctness and quality of 
Avork done, they may demand and so obtain first-rate 
workmanship. 

When disease arises Avhich Ave call “ preventable,” depend 
upon it some one ought to have prevented it. 

This book will shew work defective from ignorance , and work 
defective from dishonesty. Probably no Avork done throughout 
the kingdom is so badly done as Avork in houses, drains, 
and pipes, which is out of sight. Probably no work is better 
done in the kingdom than the locomotives turned out for our 
railways, or the machinery Avhich Ave send to all parts of the 
world. Are the working men less honest in the one case than 


XI. 


in the other ? I trow not. The difference is this : Necessity 
in the one case compels good work; indifference and ignorance 
in the other case allow bad work to pass unchallenged. If the 
platelayer were so to fix his rails that they would not 
correspond, and the next engine were thrown off the line, and 
death were the result, an inquest would be held, and that 
platelayer would he committed for manslaughter. Is there 
any great difference in the case where one drain pipe 
misses another, or ends in nothing, and in a few weeks, is the 
cause of death from typhoid fever? The excuse at present is 
that the drain layer does not know how certainly he is laying 
the foundation of illness and death. Disperse that ignorance, 
and the excuse will he gone. If the tire of the locomotive 
breaks, and throws a train off the line, the railway company 
goes to the maker of the engine, the maker of the engine to the 
maker of the tire, the maker of the tire to his hooks, and there 
learns the name of each foreman, and, I believe, of each 
workman, through whose hand the tire passed. Why can 
we not achieve the same connected responsibility about our 
drains ? 

Secondly , it struck me that there was need of some work of 
which the aim should he to teach in as simple, telling, and 
unmistakeable a way as possible the faults of sanitary 
construction which it is within the power of landlord and 
tenant, as distinct from the public authorities, to remedy and 
avoid. This latter point was pressed upon me by friends who 
took interest in the original lecture. 

The design therefore which I have set before me is this, to 
represent pictorially every important fault to which domestic 
sanitary arrangements are liable, so far at least as my 
information avails me, or, in the words suggested by a 
medical friend, to produce “ a clinical history of the defects 
to which drains are liable,” and to point out the consequences 
of such defects by instances of the illness produced thereby. 

In designing the illustrations one object has been kept 
steadily in view, viz., to give the most forcible expression I 


Xll. 


possibly could of the fact which had to he told, even at the 
sacrifice, if need be, of correct proportion, correct drawing, or cor¬ 
rect perspective. This must be my general apology for the many 
points in which the drawings are open to unfavourable criticism. 

The points in each illustration to which attention has to be 
attracted are drawn in strong lines, so that the eye may fix 
upon them first, and the lines which complete the story are 
drawn more faintly. The course and escape of sewer gases 
are indicated by blue arrows. Water in traps, water rendered 
impure by access of sewer gases, sewage matter in drains, and 
matter escaping from drains is also in blue. 

If it should seem to anyone that the book is defective in 
that it rarely teaches how the various defects ought to be 
rectified, my answer is this :— 

Firstly , that, when we have discovered what is wrong, we 
are more than half way to what is right. 

Secondly , that in pointing out what is wrong, I am dealing 
with matters which cannot be questioned—with established 
and accepted principles. No one can question the fact of “a 
leaky joint,” “ a broken pipe,” or “ a drain running up-hill ” 
being faulty. But in advising what ought to be done, I 
should be in danger of going beyond my depth, of trenching 
upon the province of experts, officers of health and sanitary 
engineers, and I should be touching on matters concerning 
which there may be various solutions, various opinions, and 
changes in course of time. What is best to-day may be 
superseded by what is still better to-morrow. If in any case 
I point out the remedy for a fault it is rather with the object, 
either by contrast to produce a more vivid impression of the 
original fault, or to give a standard below which the remedy 
ought not to fall. Moreover, in most instances where a remedy 
is suggested, a standard authority is cited for the practice. 

The illustrations are planned so that each as a rule , 
represents a single defect, and they are arranged so that the 
more common and obvious faults of ordinary drains come first, 
those which are less obvious, more rare, and more difficult to 


Xlll. 


discover come next, then some of the rascalities of dishonest 
builders are portrayed, lastly there are added drawings as 
hints on ventilation, and on the exclusion of dirt from town 
houses and closed cases. 

It is hut just that I should acknowledge the kind aid without 
which I could not have obtained the knowledge or have 
produced the quality of illustrations contained in this hook. 
My thanks are due— 

Firstly , to Mr. C. R. Chorley, Architect, of Leeds, who 
has superintended the sanitary alterations of my own house, 
has informed me of many common defects, and contributed 
some of the sketches from his own experience. 

Secondly , to Mr. Robert Slater, Sanitary Inspector, of 
Headingley Hill, who has executed all my sanitary plumbing, 
has instructed me in the defects of plumbing and drains, and 
has informed me of defects which he has discovered in the 
various houses, which, owing to illness and other reasons, he 
has been called upon to inspect. 

Thirdly , to Mr. Gr. W. Foster, Artist, of Headingley, who 
has thrown some of my sketches into an artistic form : and 
lastly, to Mr. Wm. Burton, Lithographer, who has executed 
the drawings on stone with the greatest pains and care, and has 
given an artistic finish to my otherwise crude sketches. 

If the object aimed at has been in some degree achieved, it 
may he hoped that this work may he of service— 

To the householder , who is anxious to learn whether 
his house is safe from drainage dangers or not, so that, aided 
by the diagrams, he may test every sanitary point, one by one, 
and, as he goes round book in hand, may catechise his plumber, 
his mason, or his joiner. This is the chief aim of the hook. 

To the landlord , who may learn thereby, if he does 
not realise them already, his responsibilities as to the health 
and lives of his tenants, and may feel that to save money by 
scamping drainage is “ manslaughter under an alias.” 

To the medical attendant , who may point to the 
pictures in the hook, in order to strike conviction into the 


XIY. 


minds of his patients of the sure connection between bad 
drainage and ill health. 

To the architect who may learn how by every sanitary 
detail which he designs amiss, or by oversight allows to be 
badly carried out, he is opening a door for illness to the future 
occupant of the house. 

To the officer of health , who may appeal to the 
drawings to enforce his warnings of the dangers involved in 
faulty drains. 

To those entering a new house, that they may be 
forewarned of the risks they run if they take the sanitary 
arrangements of a house on trust. 

To those about to build, that they may know Avliat 
to avoid, and what to look after, and may be able to discuss 
intelligently with their architect, builder, and plumber, 
those vital points of construction on which the health of 
themselves and their family will depend. 

To Toion councillors and members of local boards of 
health, that they may checkmate any of their colleagues who 
may have been elected to office in order to hamper or impede 
expenditure on sanitary work. 

To public opinion, as one agent among many by 
which it is rapidly being matured, and prepared to support 
when the proper time arrives genuine sanitary legislation, 
and to demand of architects, builders, and plumbers, honest 
trustworthy drain work—work in matters affecting health as 
sound and as perfect as is now demanded and obtained 
in locomotives, machinery, and engineering. 

Finally, let me say how fully aware I am that it is 
impossible in this book to include all known defects of drains, 
and that many omissions, probably important ones, will be 
discovered. Still, I trust, in a future edition, to be able to 
remedy any serious omissions which friends or critics may 
point out to me. 

Leeds, November 1878. 


XV. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Plate. - 

1. —House with every sanitary arrangement faulty. 

2 . —House with faulty arrangements avoided. 

3. —Flame at the keyhole, and its lessons. 

4. —Waste-pipe of kitchen sink untrapped. 

5. —Kitchen sink trapped, discharging into gulley. 

6 . —Kitchen sink passing untrapped into soil-pipe, 

7. —Defects in lavatories and baths. 

8 . —“ Unsyphoned ” traps. 

9. —Disused traps. Evaporation. 

10. — Lavatory with overflow joining waste below trap. 

11 . —Waste-pipe of lavatory in dressing-room passing untrapped 

into soil-pipe. 

12 . — Bedroom lavatory trapped, discharging into soil-pipe. 

13. —Housemaid’s sink passing untrapped into soil-pipe. 

14. —Cistern feeding kitchen boiler. Overflow uutrapped. 

15. — Waste of bath and sink cut off, and left open to the drain. 

16. —Fall-pipe carried inside house to a drain, and leaking. 

17. —Fall and ventilating pipe opening near window. 

18. —Vicious ventilation of drains. 

19. —“ Bats and the tale they tell/’ 

20. —W.C. faulty, and with faults corrected. 

21 . —The “ pan closet ” and its substitute. 

22 . —“ Save-all ” under w.c. passing direct into soil-pipe. 

23. —Soil-pipe in wall of sitting-room. 

24. —Leaden soil-pipe seamed and rotten. 

25. —Scullery sink discharging over dish-stone. 

2G.—Dish-stone admitting drain gas into larder. 

27. —“ Dairy sweepings.” 

28. —Dish-stone leading into tank under floor. 

29. —Sink-pipe discharging into tank in cellar. 

30. —“ Sounding ” for suspected tanks or cesspools 

31. —Rain-water cisterns and their dangers. 

32. —“ How people drink sewage,” No. I. 

33 . —“ How people drink sewage,” No. II. 

34 . —“ How people drink sewage,” No. III. 

35 . _Cesspool overflowing into a tank. 

36. — Dampness of house—overflow of cesspool. 



■xvi. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Plate. 

37. —New buildings over old drains. 

38. —“ Where is the butler 1 ” 

39. —Well under house fouled by leaking soil-pipe. 

40. —Square drain leaking under a tiled hall. 

41. —Joints opened by settling of foundations. 

42. —“ Poisoned by next door neighbour’s drains.” 

43. —“ Jerry ” builder buying “ seconds.” 

44. —Drain made of “ seconds,” 

45. —“ Putty Joints.” 

46. —Curves made by straight pipes. 

47. —Faulty junctions, 

48. —Pipes laid with flange downwards. 

49. —Drain running up hill. 

50. —“ Disconnected and misconnected.” 

51. —“ To be continued in our next.” 

52. —Drain “ taking ” a rock; sewage “ refusing.” 

53. —Economy in digging at expense of “fall.” 

54. —“ Six-inch ” pipe between two “ four-inch ” pipes. 

55. —Mortar and plaster from road-scrapings. 

56. —“ Terrace of the future on the refuse of the past.” 

57. —Hunting for drains—no plans. 

58. —Drain blocked by roots of trees. 

59. —Cesspools under London houses. 

60. —Soakings from churchyard fouling vicarage. 

61. —Slop-water lodging unsuspected in cellar. 

62. —Villa at a Mediterranean “health resort.” 

63. —An “ eligible mansion ” let for the summer, 

64. —A Highland shooting-box. 

65. —Manure heap piled against wall of house. 

66. —A hint on vaccination. 

67. —Poisonous wall-papers. 

68. —Ventilation without dirt. 

69. —Dust in cases and how to exclude it. 

70. —Window ventilator in roof of brougham 

Page. 

146.—Additional Faults. 

157.— Appendix, “ Bye-Laws.” 
xvii.—Sanitary Maxims. 

Index. 


XVII. 


SANITARY MAXIMS. 


1. —It is the duty of every householder to ascertain for 
himself whether his own house be free or not from well known 
dangers to health. 

2. —This duty, imperative at all times, is of surpassing 
urgency in a house where a woman is about to become a 
mother or a surgical operation is about to he performed. 

3. —As a rule the soundness of the sanitary arrangements 
of a house is taken for granted, and never questioned until 
“ drain-begotten ” illness has broken out. In other words, 
we employ illness and death as our drain detectives. 

4. —Whenever gas from sewers, or the emanations from a 
leaking drain, a cesspool, or a fouled well make their way 
into a house, the inmates are in imminent danger of an 
outbreak of typhoid fever, diphtheria, or other febrile ailment 
classed together under the term “ zymotic,” not to speak of 
minor illness, and depressed vitality, the connection of which 
with sewer gas is now fully established. Sewer gas enters a 
house most rapidly at night when outer doors and windows 
are shut, and is then perhaps most potent in contaminating 
the meat, the milk, and the drinking water, and in poisoning 
the inmates. 

5. —The more complete and air-tight the public sewers of 
a town, the greater the danger to every house connected 
with such sewers, if the internal drain pipes of the house be 
unsound, and not disconnected. In houses so misconnected 
sewer air is “ laid on ” as certainly for the detriment of health 
as coal gas for illumination : and you can turn off coal gas at 
the meter. 



XV111. 


6--Every hotel throughout the kingdom, and in our 
watering places every house let as lodgings, ought to have 
its sanitary arrangements periodically inspected, and duly 
licensed. 

7. —A house in which children and servants are often 
ailing with sore throat, headache, or diarrhoea is probably 
wrong in its drainage. 

8. —Scamped drain-work is one of the most dangerous 
of the sanitary haws of new buildings ; it is also one of the 
most common, and one of the most difficult to detect, and is 
rarely found out except by means of the illness it produces. 

9. —If you are about to buy or to rent a house, he it new, 
or he it old, take care before you complete your bargain to 
ascertain the soundness of its sanitary arrangements with no 
less care and anxiety than you would exercise in testing the 
soundness of a horse before you purchase it. 

10. —If you are building a house, or if you can achieve it 
in an old one, let no drain be under any part of your house, 
disconnect all waste pipes and overflow pipes from the drains, 
and place the soil pipe of the w.c. outside the house, and 
ventilate it. 

11. —If there is a smell of drains in your house, or a damp 
place in a wall near which a waste pipe or a soil pipe runs, or 
a damp place in the cellar or kitchen floor near a drain or a 
tank, let no time he lost in laying bare the pipes or drains 
until the cause be detected. 

12. —If a rat appears through the floor of your kitchen or 
cellar, and a stroug current of air blows from the rathole when 
chimneys are acting and the windows and doors of the house 
are shut, feel sure that something is wrong with a drain. 

13. —If you are tenants, and your landlord refuses to 
remedy the evil, do it at your own cost rather than allow your 
family to be ill. 

14. —Many a man who would be aghast at the idea of 
putting small quantities of arsenic into every sack of flour, 
and so by degrees killing himself and family, does not 


XIX. 


hesitate to allow sewer gas to poison the inmates of his 
house, even in the face of the strongest remonstrances of his 
medical adviser. 

15. —A landlord may reasonably look for interest on 
money which he spends for the benefit of his tenant; but lie is 
committing little short of manslaughter if, by refusing to 
rectify sanitary defects in his property, he saves his own pocket 
at the expenses of the health and lives of his tenants. 

16. —If you be a landlord, don’t intimidate your tenants 
or threaten to give them notice to quit if they complain of 
defective drainage or sewer gas in the house. 


NOTE.—Copies of these "Maxims” may be obtained of the 
4i National Health Society,” Berners Street, London. Price, 

2s. per 100. 


f 


1 


PLATE I. 


House with every sanitary arrangement 

faulty. 


This plate is intended to shew at one glance the most 
common sanitary faults of ordinary houses. In subsequent 
plates each fault will, as a rule for the sake of clearness, ho 
given singly, in order that it may be more easily understood. 

A. Water-closet in the centre of the house. 

B. House drain under floor of a room. 

C. Waste-pipe of lavatory —untrapped and passing into 

soil-pipe of w.c., thus allowing a direct channel for 
sewer gas to be drawn by the fires LL into the house. 

D. Over-flow pipe of bath untrapped and passing into 

soil-pipe. 

E. Waste-pipe of bath untrapped and passing into 

soil-pipe. 

F. Save-all tray below taps untrapped and passing into 

soil-pipe. 

Gf. Kitchen sink untrapped and passing into soil-pipe. 

To these might have been added a housemaid’s sink. 
H. Water-closet cistern with over-flow into soil-pipe of 
w.c , thus ventilating the drain into the roof, polluting 
the air of the house, and polluting the water in the 
cistern, which also forms the water-supply of the house 
for drinking and washing. 

J. Rain-water tank under floor, with over-flow into drain. 

K. Fall-pipe conducting foul air from tank fouled by 

drain gas, and delivering it just below a window. 

M. Drain under house with uncemented joints leaking ; 
also a defective junction of vertical soil-pipe with 
horizontal drain ; the drain laid without proper fall. 




2 


PLATE I 



House with every sanitary arrangement faulty. 

B 

















































































































































































































































8 



PLATE II. 


House with faulty sanitary arrangements 

avoided. 


This plate is intended to shew the reverse of the last, and 
to indicate the manner in which the faults can be rectified, 
but does not profess to lay down a strict rule as to the best 
arrangements. 

A. Water-closet against outer wall of house, with 

soil-pipe passing directly out of the house, and 
ventilated by a pipe continuing the soil-pipe above 
the eaves, and away from chimneys or windows. 

B. B. House drains entirely outside the house. 

C. Lavatory, 

D. Over-flow of bath, 

E. Waste-pipe of bath, • 

F. Save-all tray of bath, and 

Gr. Kitchen sink, to which might be added a housemaid’s 
sink, all trapped and disconnected from the drain, and 
discharging into an open gully trap, L. 

H. Over-flow of cistern into the open air.* 

K. Fall-pipe near bedroom window discharging into 
nulley L. 

M. Domestic cistern distinct from w.c cistern. 

For more exact drawing of w.c., vide Plate XXI. 


* Required by rule of Waterworks Committee of Leeds Town Council. 
Building Bye-laws of Leeds, 33f, 33i, 33j, 40, 53. Vide appendix. 





4 


PLATE II, 



House with faulty arrangements avoided, 






























































































































































































































































5 


PLATE III. 


Flame of Candle at the keyhole and the 

lessons it teaches. 


This drawing is intended to enforce five lessons :— 

1st. That as a rule no provision whatever is made for 
the air which is to feed the chimney. An ordinary fire 
draws about 150 cubic feet of air per minute. If the house 
is well built, and the windows, doors, and floor boards fit well, 
the chimney smokes, unless the door or window be open. 

2nd. That in the absence of any provision for the 
admission of air, and with the window shut, the supply of 
air comes from various irregular sources ; a small portion, 
indicated by black arrows, through window chinks ; the main 
portion, indicated by blue arrows, through the keyhole and 
crevices in the door stead, skirting boards, and floor boards. 
These “irregular'’ streams of cold air pass for the most part 
horizontally towards the fire, and chill the occupants of the 
room; and the more furhace-like the fire, the stronger the 
cold draught which traverses the room. 

3rd. That a very moderate opening in the window is 
enough to stop all “ irregular " draughts, the air taking the 
easiest course, and abandoning circuitous and contracted 
channels. 

4th. That with a window shut, the greater part of the 
chimney draught is supplied from the house, and that if the 
air of the house be “ drain-derived,’’ then “ drain-befouled ” 
air must fill the room. 

5th. That if illness “ drain-begotten ” breaks out in a 
“drain-befouled” house, and the patient cannot be removed, 
the safest course will be to open the bottom sash of the 
window to the extent that will allow a flame at the keyhole 
to burn in repose; and then to convert the horizontal draught 
into a vertical one by a board or cloth 6 or 8 inches high 
fixed about 2 inches from the window.* 


* Mr. F. Hinckes Bird on Costless Ventilation.— Builder, 1862. 






PLATE III. 


6 



“ A.” Window shut. Flame at the keyhole horizontal. 



“ B.” Window open. Flame at the keyhole in repose. 












































































































































































PLATE IV. 


Waste pipe of 
passing 


kitchen sink, untrapped, 
direct into drain. 


Here are two faults—one, the absence of a syphon trap, 
which allows the air of the sewer to be drawn in full stream 
by the fires into the house, perhaps at the rate of several cubic 
feet per minute, and with a current strong enough to blow 
out a candle; the other the direct, unbroken passage of the 
pipe into the drain. 

This is the state of the sinks of most cottages and houses 
which have not been recently built under the rule of 
“building bye-laws’’ of a town, or have not recently beeu 
inspected and corrected; and is almost universal in old 
country houses. It is probably the cause of head-ache, sore 
throat, and depressed health to many a cook, kitchen-maid, 
and butler, and perhaps indirectly leads, in not a few 
instances, to the use of those treacherous self-prescribed 
medicines—spirits and beer. 




8 


PLATE IV. 



Waste Pipe of kitchen sink untrapped, passing direct 

into drain. 




































































































9 


% 

PLATE V. 


Kitchen sink with faults corrected. 


Fault one is corrected by a syphon trap A beneath the 
sink, which prevents any current of air being drawn into the 
house through the waste pipe from the surface of the water 
in the gulley. 

Fault two is corrected by “ the waste pipe being taken 
“ through an external wall of the building into a trapped 
“ gulley grating ” (B). Building bye-laws, 33*. 

What is a Gulley? 

A Gulley is a receptacle for waste water, so contrived that, 
whilst it discharges its surplus water into the drain, the sewer 
gas is barred off from escape into the gully by the column of 
water filling the over-flow pipe (C). 

The gulley is covered by a grating, to allow (a) free access 
of air to the surface of its contents, ( b) the escape of any sewer 
gas that may be forced through the trap, and ( c ) the necessary 
periodical cleansing of any deposit that may collect. 

What is meant by “disconnection?” 

A waste pipe is said to be “ disconnected ” when, instead 
of being continuous with the drain pipes, it discharges into a 
gully, i.e , practically into the open air. 

In the drawing the waste-pipe delivers into the “ gully 5 ’ 
below the grating, as a precaution against frost. Some 
authorities insist upon the pipe delivering above the grating. 

What is here said of the waste-pipe of a sink equally applies 
to the waste-pipes of baths and lavatories, and housemaids’ 
sinks. For disconnection of w.c. and soil pipe, see Plate XXI. 













































































































11 


PLATE VI. 


Waste pipe of kitchen sink, untrapped, 
and passing into soil pipe. 


This was found in a house recently occupied by a relative 
of my own. The w.c. soil pipe being conveniently near, 
had been tapped by the ignorant or indolent plumber to 
receive the waste pipe. 




PLATE VI. 



Kitchen sink carried untrapped into soil pipe of w.e. 







































































































13 


PLATE VII. 


Defects in lavatories and baths, and 

their remedies. 


A. Waste-pipe of lavatory, waste and over-flow pipe of 
bath, all untrapped and passing into soil-pipe of w.c, 

B. Lavatory waste-pipe trapped and discharging into 
open gully outside the house. (Building bye-laws). 
Waste-pipe of bath also remedied, but the “ over-flow ” 
still untrapped and joining soil-pipe. It is not 
uncommon to find that, the waste-pipe being trapped 
and delivering into a drain or gulley, after a while the 
bath over-flows. Another plumber is then called to 
add an over-flow pipe, who, ignorant of his business, 
takes the over-flow untrapped into the nearest 
communication with a drain, which is usually the 
soil-pipe of a w.c. 

C. In this drawing, both waste and over-flow of bath are 
properly guarded by a trap, and properly conducted 
into the open air, but by an oversight the “ save-all ” 
tray for catching the drippings of the taps has been 
connected directly with the soil-pipe, thus vitiating the 
whole arrangement. This fault was recently discovered 
close to the bedroom of a gentleman suffering from 
whitlow with inflammation spreading up the arm, his 
medical man having insisted on a close investigation 
of the drains of the house under the conviction that 
some such cause was needed to explain the attack. 

D. All pipes from bath correctly arranged. 




14 



mmm . 


* > 7 > ' 


^ <^////.W/^777Z 




PLATE VII. 






! 


Defects in lavatories and baths, and their remedies. 


/ 
















































































































PLATE VIII. 


“ Unsyphoned ” Traps. 


This is an attempt to suggest in a diagram the effect of 
water in motion. 

When the water is being run off from the bath (B,) the 
falling column of water as it rushes past the entrance of the 
pipe of the lavatory (C) sucks the water out of the trap of the 
lavatory, “ unsyphons ” it, and leaves it open to the drain 
until more water is let in to fill the trap. 

The same is said to occur in the case of water-closets, 
(FDE) where a series, one above the other, discharge into 
the same soil-pipe, an arrangement more common in London 
than elsewhere. 

What is the remedy ? 

Let me quote from Mr. J. A. Bussell’s lectures to Plumbers 
and Builders, page 19.* 

“ 6th. Traps may be unsyphoned by a body of water 
“coming down the soil-pipe from a fitting higher up on the 
“ same stack. Such a bod}^ of water will act like a piston, 
“compressing the air in front of it, and making suction 
“ behind it. One gallon of water fills nearly 39.£ inches of 
“3 inch pipe, 28*8 of 3J inch, 22 of 4 inch, and 17’43 of 
“ \\ inch. The remedy is to have a ventilating inlet joining 
“ the highest point of the bend on the distal side of the trap, 
“ and if the vent be taken from the soil-pipe higher up, (and 
“ not from a separate air pipe, or a grating to the open air,) 
“the above data will indicate the proper distance.” 


* Sanitary houses, by J. A. Russell, Lecturer on Sanitation at the Watt 
Institution, Edinbro ’.—Maclaclmn and Stewart. 






PLATE VIII. 


10 


1 



” Unsyphoned traps." 









































































































































































PLATE IX. 


> 


Disused Traps; Evaporation. 


Traps cease to be traps as soon as the water evaporates 
below “the seal.” 

Unoccupied houses are liable to have open communications 
with the drains from this cause ; and lavatories, and water- 
closets rarely used may become “ unsealed ” from disuse and 
evaporation. 

It is not uncommon to hear people say, “ oh, we never use 
“such and such a w.c. except in case of illness,” forgetting 
that disuse means evaporation, and open communication with 
a drain. Probably much illness has resulted from evaporation 
of the water in the syphon of a lavatory of a seldom used 
“ spare bedroom.” 




18 


plate ix. 



Disused Traps.—Evaporation of water and consequent 
direct communication with the drain, c 



























































































































































19 


m 


PLATE X. 


Lavatory with overflow joining the 
waste-pipe below the trap. 


In this instance (not very uncommon, though a violation 
of common sense) the trap was rendered useless because the 
over-flow (A), missing the trap (C), communicated directly 
with the drain (B), and served as a ready channel for the 
passage of sewer gas. 

It was discovered in the house of Mr. E. Atkinson, surgeon, 
of this town, a house sold to him as recently fitted up with all 
precaution as to sanitary requirements. 






20 


PLATE X 



Lavatory with overflow joining waste pipe below the trap. 

















21 


PLATE XL 


Waste-pipe of lavatory in a dressing- 
room passing untrapped into a drain 

or soil-pipe. 


This condition along- with other faults was discovered in the 
house of a medical man whose wife had been dangerously ill 
from puerperal fever. Her accouchement being again in prospect 
the husband very wisely had the sanitary condition of the 
house enquired into, and this and several other serious defects 
were discovered. All was set right, and on this occasion the 
lady recovered -without a drawback. 




22 


PLATE XI. 







0 

Lavatory in a dressing-room opening out of a bedroom 
with waste-pipe untrapped and connected with soil-pipe. 

































































































PLATE XII. 


Lavatory in bedroom trapped, but 
discharging into soil-pipe of w.c. 


The syphon trap (A) prevents any rush of air being drawn 
through the waste-pipe (B,) but does not prevent the slow 
passage of foul gases from the w.c. drain, (C,) indicated by 
the faint arrows rising from the basin. The gentleman 
occupying the bedroom from which this illustration was taken, 
was suffering from erysipelas of the face, and was about to 
undergo a surgical operation. His surgeon refused to do any 
operation until the lavatory pipe was cut off from the drain, 
and made to discharge into the open air. It is right to add 
that the w.c. was in the centre of the house, and that the 
drain ran under the hall floor. 







Lavatory in bedroom trapped, but discharging into soil-pipe of w.c. 




























































































































































































on 

JjO 


PLATE XIII. 


Housemaid’s sink-pipe untrapped and 
discharging into a soil-pipe. 


This plate seems but a repetition of the untrapped lavatory, 
but is introduced because the housemaid’s sink, often in a dark 
corner, is apt to be overlooked even when all proper care has 
been taken with lavatories and baths. 

This instance is communicated to me by Mr. Nicholson Price, 
surgeon, of Leeds. He had recently removed to a house the 
property of the Leeds Infirmary. In three or four months 
two of his children became seriously ill with inflamed throat. 
The sanitary condition of the house was suspected and 
investigated, and it was found that two housemaids’ sinks 
near the bedrooms passed virtually untrapped into soil-pipe 
and drain. 






20 


PLATE XIII. 



Housemaid’s sink pipe passing untrapped into soil pipe. 










































































































































































PLATE XIV. 


Cistern feeding kitchen boiler. 


Wliere a cistern is arranged to feed a kitchen boiler, the 
cistern must have an overflow pipe. This overflow pipe is 
often carried direct into a drain without even the partial 
protection of a trap, and thus establishes a channel for sew T er air 
to come into the kitchen, and to foul the water of the boiler. 
If water for the kettle he drawn from the boiler, then impure 
water is drunk. 




28 


k 



Cistern feeding kitchen boiler with overflow direct into drain. 



















































































































































* 


29 


PLATE XV. 


Waste-pipe of bath and sink cut off 

—pipe open. 


(A) was discovered in the following manner :— 

Mrs. A,, from Lancashire, came to spend a few days in 
Leeds. Soon after her arrival she consulted a medical man 
about a severe neuralgia of the face and side, and complained 
of a sore throat. The medical man on seeing her throat, at 
once enquired about her drains, but could not discover that 
anything was wrong. In three days she reported herself 
as cured by the remedies prescribed. Her doctor thinking 
the cure too rapid to be the result of his medicine, again * 
catechised her about her drains, and at last drew out that 
there had been a bath in a room near her bedroom, that the 
bath had been removed, but that the waste-pipe had been left 
(open of course) in case they might wish to replace the bath. 
The room had been constantly so unpleasant, that an apprentice 
who slept there had his window open summer and winter, and 
they had made many fruitless efforts to discover the cause. 

(B) is taken from No. 20, Park Pow, the house I formerly 
occupied. The scullery, on my leaving the house, was 
turned into an office, and the sink was removed. A few years 
after, the clerks complained of bad smells, and after much 
search the cut off waste-pipe of the sink was discovered 
underneath the floor boards open-mouthed, and passing direct 
into a drain. 







30 


PLATE XV 










































































































































PLATE XVI. 


Fall pipe having direct communication 
with the drain carried through the house 
and allowing the escape of sewer gas 
from imperfect joints. 


Tliis house, at a watering place, was first tenanted and 
afterwards purchased by a relative of my own, who after a 
residence of a few weeks, had erysipelas of the face. This 
attack at once suggested to me drainage faults, and made me 
reproach myself for not having had the house previously 
inspected. An inspection discovered the rain-fall pipe carried 
from the front through the cellars into a drain at the back. 
The joints of the pipe as it passed through the house were so 
defective that pans had to be placed to catch the rain. A bath 
upstairs had a waste pipe opening untrapped into the fall pipe. 
There was also an untrapped sink in the kitchen. After 
purchase of the house, the defects were remedied, and all pipes 
were disconnected from the sewer. 

Mr. C. Id. Chorley tells me that in one of the Yorkshire 
country mansions which he inspected, he found, along with 
numerous other faults, that all the fall pipes had been carried , 
for the sake of appearance, inside the 'trails, actually in the corners 
of bedrooms direct into the drains, and that the joints inside 
the house were incompetent and open, and allowed the 
plentiful escape of sewer gas. 

Kecently in my own consulting rooms, built for me six years 
ago, before I gave much thought to drains, Mr. Chorley 
discovered a rain-fall pipe carried through the centre of the 
house into a drain. The existence of this I had not suspected. 
The defect was remedied by conveying the pipe to a gully on 
the outside of the house. 




PLATE XVI. 


32 


E 


„ F 
, , 



Rain fall pipe with leaky joints carried through 
basement direct into a drain. 































































































































































































































33 


PLATE XVII. 


(A) Fall pipe communicating with sewer 
and openingjust below bedroom 

window. 

(B) Ventilator of soil-pipe opening below 

attic window. 


This? is a not uncommon, though often an unsuspected 
source of danger. Some years ago, an outbreak of typhoid 
fever in one of the colleges at Cambridge was attributed to 
this cause. 

Of the same class of faults are those arrangements common 
in London houses, in which a leaden roof over an outbuilding 
or bay-window, or a cistern outside a window, have fall pipes, 
or overflow pipes passing into drains. 

This ventilating shaft is faulty in two points—(1) in not 
being as large as the soil-pipe, (2) in its termination, a 
trumpet-shaped opening, as in Plate I., being deemed the 
best. 




PLATE XVII. 


u 



A. Fall pipe communicating with sewer, and opening 

just below bedroom window. 

B. Ventilator of soil pipe discharging close to attic 

window. 

u 






































































































































PLATE XVIII. 


Vicious ventilation of drains. 


A. A fatal case of typhoid fever occurred at a school in 
which sanitary precautions had been taken with great 
care and anxiety by the schoolmistress. This led to a 
fresh investigation, and to the discovery that the 
studiously planned ventilation of the drain had been 
ingeniously mismanaged, and that the “ ventilator ” 
had been turned into the chimney of the room in 
which the young lady slept. 

B. The ventilating shaft from a drain ought not to end 
near the top of a -chimney, lest the sewer-gas be 
carried by a down-draught through the chimney 
into the house. 




3G 



A. Ventilating pipe of B. Ventilator of drain 
drain turned into discharging close to 

bedroom chimney. a chimney-pot. 























































37 


PLATE XIX. 

“ Rats, and the tale they tell.” 

When rats appear in a kitchen or cellar the presumption 
is that they come out of a drain. A hole in a drain which 
permits the escape of a rat will allow the sewer gas to he 
drawn into a house : u pleno flumine.” 

When a waste-pipe or a sink joins a drain under a kitchen 
floor instead of discharging into a gulley outside, this is what 
usually happens. The sink-pipe religiously trapped passes 
neatly through the kitchen floor. Beneath the floor and out of 
sight it passes into an open wide-mouthed drain pipe, 4 or 6 
inches in diameter, with neither cement nor luting to 
bar the escape of rats or sewer gas. This piece of scamping 
being out of sight is exceedingly common , and is often 
overlooked by Inspectors who satisfy themselves with a peep 
at the syphon trap, and take no account of the gaping pipe 
concealed beneath the flag, ready to let the rat and the gas 
out of the drain. 

This was discovered in a house which I recently bought. 

In my own kitchen also a flaw of this kind was found. 
The cement forming the junction of the sink-pipe and drain 
was eaten or broken away, leaving a hole large enough to 
receive a man’s hand. 

I need hardly say that I had the sink-pipe turned into an 
outside gulley, and the drain under the kitchen entirely 
removed. 

In two other ways rats do mischief—one, by eating through 
lead pipes in order to reach water or fat—the other by 
making runs under drain pipes and letting down and opening 
the joints. 

Open drain joints concealed under a cellar-floor can often 
he detected in the following way :—shut all windows and 
outer doors—open all doors between the cellar and the fires 
in the house—then hold a lighted taper opposite any crevices 
or fissures, such as are shewn by the blue arrows. 




38 


PLATE XIX. 






in 





Rats and the tale they tell. Hole in leaden pipe gnawed by Rats. 
















































































































39 


PLATE XX. 

Water-closet with arrangements all faulty, 
compared with w.c. with the faults 

remedied. 


As the arrangement of the w.c. is to many persons a source 
of great anxiety, I have felt obliged to depart somewhat from 
the ride laid down, and to suggest a plan which seems to be 
free from serious objection, and which has been adopted in my 
own house. 

In No. 1, the pan (A) is a “pan-closet” very common, and 
objectionable because of tho large cavity—or so called 
“ container ”—between the pan and the trap. This cavity 
becomes foul, and a receptacle for foul air, which either passes 
through the water by absorption, or is displaced into the 
house when the closet is used. In No. 2, the “pan-closet ” 
is replaced by a simple syphon sanitary basin. 

In No. 1. the soil-pipe (B) is inside the house, and if faulty 
at any part, allows the escape of dangerous gas into the house 

The soil-pipe may be faulty,— 

(a) At the junctions with the pan above, or the drain below, 
from the joints being badly made, “ putty joints ” instead of 
soldered joints, or the pipe may have settled, and so have 
opened the joints ;— 

Or, (b) The lead pipe may be “ seamed ” instead of 
“ drawn,” and so liable to gape at the seam;— 

Or, ( c ) The lead pipe may be old, twenty or thirty years, 
and eaten through by the sewer gas;— 

Or, ( d ) The soil-pipe may be made of short sanitary tubes, 
affording many joints for insecurity and the escape of sewer 
gas;— 

Or, ( e ) The soil-pipe may by its weight have broken the 
earthenware junction with the drain, thus allowing the 
discharge of the sewage beneath the floor of the house. Vide 
Plates I., XXNIX., XLIX. 




40 


PLATE XX. 



No. I, w.c. faulty. 


No. 2, faults corrected. 

















































































































41 


PLATE XX— (Continued). 


In No. 2, these risks are avoided by carrying the soil-pipe 
outside the house, to join an outside drain. 

In No. 1, (D,) the drain is underneath the house, and if it is 
laid wrongly, without proper fall, (Plate I., XLIX.,) or badly, 
with unluted joints,' (Plate I.,) or of broken, i.e. “ seconds ’ 
pipes, (Plate XLIY.,) or if the foundation sinks, (Plate 
XLI.,) a cesspool is formed at every leaky point within the 
house, (Plate I.) 

In No. 2, the drain (D) is entirely outside. On “ drains 
under any building,” compare Building Bye-laws, § 33f. 

In No. 1, the cistern (E) has its overflow into the soil-pipe, 
thus acting as a ventilator to the drains, and conducting the 
sewer gas into the roof, and thence into the rest of the house. 

In No. 2, the overflow of the cistern discharges into the 
open air—in accordance with the bye-law of the Waterworks 
Committee, of the Leeds Town Council. 

In No. 1, the soil-pipe is unventilated except by the 
overflow pipe of the cistern. 

In No. 2, the soil-pipe (F) is “ continued upwards without 
diminution of diameter,” above the eaves “ to such a height 
and in such a position as to afford, by means of the open end 
of such pipe, a safe outlet for sewer air,” or in other words the 
ventilating pipe must not end anywhere near a window, (see 
Plate XVII.,) nor a chimney top, (Building Bye-laws > § 53,) 
(Plate XVIII.) 

In No. 2, there is an open air grate (Gr,) to allow the free 
passage of air up and dowrn the soil-pipe, and to prevent the 
accumulation of foul gas on the drain side of the water trap 
of the w.c. basin. 

In No. 2, there is a syphon trap (EL) to cut off the sewer 
gas from the soil-pipe, with a tube closed by a moveable top 
by which access can be gained to any stoppage in the trap. 



42 


PLATE XX—( Continued ). 


Besides all this, there must be a ventilating tube on the 
drain side of the syphon trap (H). 

On the subject of “ ventilation of drains,” Dr. Clifford 
Allbutt tells me of a case of typhoid fever attended by himself 
and Dr. Dobie, of Keighley, “ due to the magnificent 
completeness of the whole drainage, done at great cost, 
including an equally magnificent cesspool, 300 yards away, 
and all absolutely tight, and so unventilated anywhere ”— 
except into the house through the water-traps. 


■* 



43 


PLATE XXI. 

The “pan-closet” and its substitute. 

This Plate is introduced at the risk of repetition for two 
reasons,— 

Firstly , in the hope of giving the coup de grace to that litter 
abomination of sanitary mechanism, condemned by all 
sanitary reformers, the “ pan -closet" ’ If by giving it a 
nickname one can aid in rendering it impossible for architect 
or builder to insert one in a new building, without incurring 
ridicule,— Ridiculum acri Fortius et melius magnas plerumque 
secat res —an additional blow will have been struck at a 
source of offensiveness, if not of illness, but too common even 
in well appointed houses. 

This contrivance is vividly described, and no less scathingly 
condemned, in an article on “ The Sanitary condition of New 
York,” in “ Scribner’s Monthly Magazine ” for May, page 
74, from which the following is an extract:— 

“ The cardinal fault of all, not even surpassed by the 
“ unventilated soil-pipe, is the w.c., which is in almost universal 
“ use all over Christendom. This is known as the “ pan-closet.'’ 
“ It probably is not, but it certainly might be, the invention of the 
“ devil.” 

Secondly , because the former editions of this work have been 
taken much more as a guide to sanitary arrangements in the 
construction and re-construction of dwellings than I contem¬ 
plated, and in consequence I feel bound to give a somewhat 
detailed drawing of what seems to be the simplest plan of w.c. 
which would'be deemed satisfactory by sanitary engineers. 

The closet should consist of a simple basin (A) and 
syphon (D.), the syphon being cleansed each time of 
use by a strong two gallon flush. 

A receptacle for water in the basin in addition to the 
syphon is a complication, and may reduce the force of the 
flush upon the syphon unless skilfully managed. The 
cleaning of the syphon by the flush is the main point to be 
solved. 




PLATE XXI. 


44 



I. The “UTTERLY UTTER” abomination. 
2. The modern substitute. 






























































45 


PLATE XXI— (Continued)- 


The syphon should not he of greater calibre than the lower 
orifice of the basin, and should have a very shallow water 
seal, and a good, not an abrupt, curve, in order that the force 
of the water may be as effectual as possible in clearing it out. 

The soil-pipe (E) should be outside the house, open at the 
top (G-) above the eaves, and open at the bottom (H) at or 
near the ground level (as represented by a black arrow), and, 
finally, cut off from the sewer by a syphon trap (K). 

The syphon trap should communicate wfith the surface of 
the ground by a tube (L), sealed at the top by a moveable 
plate for the purpose of cleansing in case of need. 

Finally, let me say that I have had these arrangements in 
use for several years, with perfect satisfaction and no 
inconvenience from frost. 


PLATE XXII. 


“Save-all” tray beneath w.c. with 
untrapped waste pipe serving as 
unsuspected ventilator to soil-pipe. 


This drawing was communicated to me by Mr. 0. It. Chorley, 
who discovered it in a house in which very great pains had 
been taken with the waste pipes and drains. The “ save-all ” 
(A) is sometimes placed under a w.c. to catch any chance 
overflow when slops are carelessly emptied into the pan, and 
the waste pipe (B) is, naturally perhaps, but most disastrously, 
carried untrapped into the soil pipe (C). Even a trap to the 
waste pipe of the tray is a “ snare,” as Dr. Clifford Allbutt 
said, because it only acts when there has been great 
carelessness resulting in an over-flow sufficient to fill the trap, 
and this will soon evaporate. 







46 


i 


PLATE XXII. 




“Save-all” tray beneath w.c. with untrapped waste 
pipe acting as ventilator of soil pipe. 
























































































































































































47 


PLATE XXIII 


Soil-pipes inside a house 

Are rarely safe, and still more rarely excusable. Sometimes 
they are “ let into ” the wall and covered by a board, and 
perhaps papered over, and thereby concealed. The board acts 
as a shaft to conduct any leakages of sewer gas into the upper 
rooms. 

The sketch for this drawing was given me by a medical 
student who occupied the room in question. He was 
constantly suffering from sore throat, and after repeated 
accusations of the drains, and with much reluctance, his 
father at last allowed an investigation. The concealed soil 
pipe was discovered in the wall of his study, perforated at 
several points, and ending below the floor in a broken 
junction with the drain. 

Sometimes a leaking soil-pipe is discovered in the wall of a 
kitchen cupboard where food is kept. 



48 


PLATE XXIII 


\ 



“Soil pipe” in corner of sitting-room, concealed by a 

board. 


























































































































































49 


PLATE XXIV. 


Leaden soil pipe, seamed, and crumbling 

with age. 


This was found in a house recently occupied by a relative 
of my own. An old water-closet, very little used, and situated 
in the centre of the house, was condemned to removal. The 
plumber who removed it found the soil pipe so rotten that it 
“crumbled like short cake.” It was open at the seam, so 
that not only gas but liquid sewage had escaped, and had 
made the contiguous wall, and the kitchen under which the 
w.c. drain ran, “ black damp.” 

The soil pipe of a w.c., if inside a house (an arrangement 
better avoided), ought to be made of drawn lead , i.e., not of 
sheet lead rolled into the form of a tube and soldered at the 
seam. A seamed pipe may be defective, and leak at any 
point of the seam. A drawn lead pipe, if a good one, is only 
in danger of being defective at the joints, vide Plate XLV., 
“ Putty Joints.” 

Age is a source of danger in leaden soil pipes. Dr. Fergus, 
of Glasgow, found that unventilated pipes of 15 years, and 
ventilated pipes of 25 years, became eroded, eaten into holes, 
on the inner surface, by the sewer gases, especially on the 
upper surface of a bend. Dr. Fergus considers that the 
duration of ventilated soil pipes is from eighteen to thirty or 
more years; of unventilated soil pipes from a minimum of 
eight years to a maximum of twenty years. 

He has traced illness on many occasions to perforation 
from within of leaden soil pipes, which had been corroded by 
sewer gases. 




PLATE XXIV 




Leaden soil pipe, seamed, and crumbling from age. 

» 

E 



ppifpnfmr^ 


ji1|ii7ii- iTT .yn 


































































































































































51 


PLATE XXV. 


Scullery sink discharging over the grate 
guarding an untrapped drain. 


This drawing was contributed by Mr. Chorley, who 
discovered the defect in the house of a relative. 

Mr. C. had noticed a drain smell in the hall and low T er 
part of the house. On investigation, he found the sink pipe 
(A) delivering its waste water into a grate (B) which 
covered a sinkstone of an untrapped drain. This drain 
joined a w.c. drain running under the house. In the same 
house he found an untrapped sinkstone in the “ keeping 
cellar.” Before these faults were discovered and remedied 
the lady of the house was constantly in ill-health. Since the 
correction of the faults her health has been perfectly restored. 




PLATE XXV. 



% v- 


rnmmm.: 




o 




i 1 



























































































































58 


PLATE XXVI. 


“No wonder the meat wont keep, the 
beer turns sour, and the milk disagrees.” 


“ Dish-stone in larder leading into a 

drain.” 


Open grates in cellars for the purpose of “swilling” the 
iloor are not uncommon. They are often untrapped, and when 
trapped, the traps are usually ineffective from want of water, 
or from being broken; and even if sealed by water, they are 
still an inefficient barrier to sewer gases, which can pass by 
absorption through water. 

In the dairy and larders of the new Leeds Infirmary there 
were found sinkstones practically untrapped in every instance. 

It is probable that this communication with the drains may 
have been the explanation of certain outbreaks of diarrhoea 
in the Hospital which were attributed to the milk, hut 
without any such source of its contamination being suspected. 

About 3 years ago two hoys were ill in low fever in a 
newly-built country house. Every care had been taken about 
the drainage, and the drinking water was found free from 
pollution. The medical attendants were for a long time at a 
loss to find out the source of the fever. At last the milk was 
suspected, and the dairy at some distance from the house was 
examined. A sink-stone leading to an open drain was 
discovered. 





54 



PLATE XXVI. 



u 

p 


on 

nUJ 

r 

i 

n 

In 


u 

nu 

n 

Lin 













































































































































































































































































PLATE XXVII. 


“Dairy Sweepi ngs.” 


This illustration was contributed by Dr. Midgley Cockroft, 
of Masliam, in the following letter :— 

“ I attended the family on two occasions. In the first the 
“type was purely Typhus,—four cases, one death. On the 
“ second attendance the type was entirely Typhoid ; all had 
“ diarrhoea, all had rose spots, and one death occurred in the 
“ four cases, three of the cases having gone through the first 
“ illness. There was no other case of either variety in the 
“neighbourhood. 1 had a good opportunity of watching the 
“ process of cleaning down the dairy. The joints in the 
“ flagging were purposely left about f of an inch apart in 
“ order that the water thrown on could easily be brushed into 
“ the fissures , whence I could hear it falling into a drain below, 
“ which drain only went from the dairy into a garden in front 
“ of the house, a distance of about 10 or 12 yards, with a very 
“ little fall in its course. The house was a very old one, and 
“ has now been replaced by an entirely new one. I may add 
“ that the dairy floor was ‘ dished ’ to facilitate the discharge 
“ of the water.” It would seem that the spilt milk, washed 
into the imperfect drain, underwent a poisonous decomposition 
in the drain, and thus gave off poison to the dairy, milk, and 
kitchen. 




PLATE XXVII. 


56 





Dairy sweepings 










































































































































PLATE XXVIII. 


“Dish-stone” in scullery leading into a 
rain-water tank with overflow direct 

into a drain. 


This illustration, as well as Plates VI. and XXIV., was 
taken from the house of my relative. The servants were in 
the habit of washing the floor, and sweeping the “ washings ” 
through the siuk-stone into the tank. The tank had an 
overflow direct into the drain, and thus the sewer air had a 
free passage into the house. 




58 


PLATE XXVIII. 


\ 



Dish-stone in scullery untrapped, and opening direct into a rain-water tank, with 

overflow into drain. 



















































































































59 


PLATE XXIX. 


Pantry sink turned into soft-water 
cistern under the cellar floor, with 
overflow into the rock. 


Contributed by Mr. Edward Atkinson, from his own house. 

A large soft-water cistern was discovered under a cellar 
floor, full of very offensive water, which, having no overflow 
pipe, must have overflowed into the foundations. The cellars 
had been excessively damp, and had baffled costly attempts 
by his predecessor to remedy. Into this tank the slops from 
the butler’s pantry found their way, as the waste-pipe of the 
sink had been turned into an old channel under the cellar 
floor which conducted rain from the fall-pipes into the tank. 
The butler’s sink was one of the improvements preparatory 
to Mr. Atkinson’s purchase. 

A similar fault was communicated to me by the late 
Mr. William Gray, of York. “ I send you a sketch from our 
“ court which I think equals any you have recorded. A new 
“ sink being put down, it was obviously a short cut to discharge 
“ it into the fall pipe, which fed a tank under the sitting-room 
“floor. Two successive families occupying the house had 
“typhoid fever.” 




60 


PLATE XXIX. 



Smv'smvv 










£>XX^\XX£X\^XXS 


■.nLTiLv 


2XX^''XXVN\\\^\\XX^^^^ 


»%« 


Pantry sink turned into soft water cistern under the 
cellar floor, with overflow into the rock. 

























































61 


PLATE XXX. 


Disused and unsuspected water tank 

under cellar-floor. 


This was found in the house of Mr. H. B. Hewetson, 
surgeon, of Leeds. Sometime previously, in consequence of 
illness in his family, he had removed a central w.c. to the 
outside, and had, as far as he could judge, corrected all 
sanitary defects. Illness of a typhoid character broke out, 
affecting Mr. H. himself and a maid servant. This led to a 
search under the cellar steps where the flags sounded hollow. 
A large unsuspected tank (A) was found, with direct overflow 
into the drain (B). The end of a pipe of a long disused 
water-closet (C) was discovered at one corner. At the same 
time some other defects were found and remedied. Mr. H. 
recovered after a few days’ illness, and the servant lingered 
four months and then died. 

The workman (Di is inserted in order to shew how spaces 
under stone floors can be discovered by the hollow sound 
produced by a falling crowbar. 




C,2 


PLATE XXX. 



A. Rain-water tank under cellar floor, with overflow 
into drain. 

D. Workman “sounding with crowbar” for suspected 
“tank” or “cesspool.” 


















































































































































































































































































































































PLATE XXXI. 


Rain-water cisterns and the dangers 

they entail. 


The fault here presented is one not uncommon in country 
houses. 

A large cistern within the house receives the rain water 
from the roof, and, as a matter of course, has an over-flow 
pipe to carry off surplus water. 

The over-flow pipe (whether it he trapped or not is of no 
moment or value) conveys the water into a large storage tank 
outside. 

The storage tank again has an over-flow into a cesspool. 
The cesspool is sealed at the top and unventilated. The 
gases formed in the cesspool and drains pass hack along the 
overflow pipe into the tank, and thence along the first 
overflow pipe of the cistern into the roof of the house, whence 
they are drawn hy the house fires into the rooms and 
passages. 





How cesspool poison may steal into a country house. 









































































































PLATE XXXII. 


How people drink sewage.-—No. I. 

Drain pipes badly joined or broken, 

leaking into a well. 

This is the condition probably of a large proportion of the 
wells of the country, especially of the shallow surface wells. 

A glance at the picture will convince most thinking persons 
of the pressing need there is for a great national organisation 
for providing wholesome drinking water to villages and small 
towns which do not as yet possess a public unpolluted water 
supply. This need has been pressed upon the attention of 
the public by the press, the Society of Arts, and by His 
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 

A well may be polluted with sewage for a long time before 
illness results. 

The history of an outbreak of typhoid fever at a large 
school about ten years ago is almost classical. By judicious 
care and outlay the health of the boys in this school had been 
long preserved at a high level. But on the reassembling 
after the holidays a boy fell ill of typhoid fever contracted at 
home. He was placed in the “ sick-house,” and used the w.c. 
which discharges into a drain running near the underground 
cistern which supplied the drinking water. In a fortnight 
about 30 boys were down with typhoid. A careful 
investigation made by the proprietor and Mr. Ellerton, and 
reported on to the Local Government Board by Dr. Clifford 
Allbutt, revealed a leakage from the drain, and a fouling of 
the cistern thereby. Both cistern and drain had been very 
carefully and properly constructed, but the drain lay too near 
the cistern, so that when a joint of the drain was let down by 
a rat run, the escaping sewage soaked through some fine 
crevices in the cement of the cistern. 

In this instance, water fouled by drainage did not set up 
typhoid fever until the importation of case of typhoid led to 
the introduction of typhoid discharges into the drinking water. 





GG 


PLATE XXXll. 



How people drink sewage.—No. I. 
Drain leaking into a well. 


F 












































































PLATE XXXIII. 



How people drink sewage.—No. 2. 


Cesspool full and overflowing into a well. 


Tliis is the same in principle with the last picture, and 
teaches that cesspools need constant attention and cleansing, 
and very great care in construction. (Building Bye-laws, 
§ 35—§ 89.) 

The following illustration came before my notice :—Typhoid 
fever broke out at a farm house, distant about half-a-mile 
from a village. The father died, and the mother and daughter 
recovered. In the village the only case of fever which occurred 
was that of the farming man who had his meals at the iarm 
and went home to the village to sleep. 

The following was supposed to be the cause of the fever :— 
Ten feet from the door of the house there was a cesspool. 
Twelve months previously a well had been made between the 
house and the cesspool. Shortly before the time of the fever 
the house drain had become so offensive that the cesspool was 
examined, and was found to be full and overflowing and was 
in consequence emptied. It is a fair inference that the 
cesspool had overflowed into the well and poisoned the 
drinking water. This occurred some years ago, and the well- 
water was not analysed, so that complete proof was absent. 

Nevertheless the picture generalises well known and well 
ascertained facts. 

I have recently seen in Leeds, during the excavations for a 
new building, the exact conditions here depicted. The well 
was formed of bricks laid radiating from the centre of the 
well, and of course with plenty of room between them for 
admitting leakage into the well from the neighbouring 
cesspool. 





PLATE XXXIII 


G8 



How people drink sewage.—No. 2- 
Cesspool full and overflowing into a well 


































































































69 


PLATE XXXIV 

How people drink sewage.- No. 3. 

Well near “fold yard.”—Drain carried 

over a well. 

This picture represents a series of facts. 

No. 1.—That wells are often placed within, or close by 
a farm yard, so that the soakings from the sodden manure 
must needs ooze through the soil into the well. 

No. 2.—That, inconceivable though it may appear, it is a 
fact that drains are sometimes carried across the upper part of 
a well. Two instances have been related to me. 

The first by Mr. Robert Hagyard, late a student at the 
Leeds School of Medicine :— 

“ A drain ran through the side of a well, the pipes 
projecting so as to be visible when the lid was removed from 
the top of the well. At the junction of the pipes a leakage of 
sewage, consisting chiefly of liquid from a pigstye and 
cowshed, trickled down the side of the well. Several cases of 
typhoid fever had occurred in the house. The occupants sold 
milk, which was freely diluted with the ‘ solution of enteric 
fever’ from the well.” 

The second was related to me by Mr. John Bradley, coach 
builder, of Leeds :— 

“ The drain is carried over the mouth of a well on a plank, 
which rots and lets down the drain, and pours the sewage 
matter into the well which supplies a large establishment with 
drinking stuff. Typhoid fever broke out, and one of six cases 
ended fatally, when the above state of things was discovered.” 

No 3.—That milk is made poisonous by the use of 
contaminated well water, either for diluting the milk or even 
for washing the cans. 

Moral. —Every dairy whence milk is sold ought by law to 
be under constant sanitary inspection. 





70 


PLATE XXXIV. 



The “well” contrived a double debt to pay.” Well and cesspool all in one. 


































































PLATE XXXV. 


Overflow from cesspool into rain-water 

tank. 


This plate represents a fact related to me by my friend, 
Mr. W. P. Goodall, surgeon, of Birmingham. 

In a newly-built vicarage a rain-water tank had an overflow 
pipe into a cesspool, the levels of which were so skilfully 
mismanaged, that the cesspool, when full, relieved itself by 
overflowing back into the rain-water tank. 

A second fact of the same kind is thus told to me by 
Mr. John Bradley, of Leeds:— 

“ A new bank, with residence for the manager, was erected 
in a sniall market town. Shortly after he went to reside there 
his wife became ill. She went from home for a week, and 
returned quite well, but found her servants and children 
attacked as she had been. At this time a great stench was 
felt in the scullery near the pump of a soft water tauk. The 
tank was examined, and was found three parts filled with 
sewage. The builder had laid the overflow pipe into the sewer, 
with the fall the wrong way, and had thus tapped the 
sewer, and the sewage had flowed into the tank.” 




72 




PLATE XXXV. 



'*** 




A New Vicarage. Cesspool overflowing into a tank. 






































































































73 


PLATE XXXVI. 

Cesspool overflowing and causing the 
floor and wall of a house to be damp 

from sewage. 

This illustration is a general expression of the following 
facts, rather than a representation of any actual example. 

Case 1 was related to me by Dr. James Braithwaite, as 
having occurred in a suburb of Leeds about four years ago. 

Typhoid fever occurred in two of a group of three newly 
built houses, within a few weeks of their being occupied. The 
following conditions were discovered when, a few months after, 
the main drain was brought within reach, and an attempt was 
made to connect them. The drains from Nos. 1 and 2 opened 
into the drain of No. 3, and this terminated 18 inches from 
the house, forming a cesspool in the soil which rested against 
the cellar of No. 3, and in rainy weather caused the cellar 
floor to be flooded. Typhoid fever broke out in No. 3, and 
afterwards spread to No. 1. 

Case 2.—A young woman was suffering from chronic sore 
throat and partial loss of voice, a serious matter, as she was 
being trained as a public singer. Having enquired into the 
sanitary condition of her house, I learnt from her mot her that 
two children had died of diphtheria, and that the kitchen floor 
was damp and offensive from the overflow of their cesspool. 
Complaints had been ineffectually made to the landlord’s 
agent, but her husband dared not complain to the landlord, 
his master, for fear of being dismissed from Lis situation, that 
of head gardener. 


\ 




PLATE XXXVI 


74 








as 

Q 


mpness of house from overflow of cesspool. 























































































































75 


PLATE XXXVII. 


Additions to house built over forgotten 

drains. 


For this illustration I am indebted to Dr. Britton, of 
Halifax. 

A billiard room was built on a vacant space between a 
bouse and a stable. 

After a time tlie billiard room was converted into a dining 
room. 

Typhoid fever broke out two weeks after the family 
returned from the sea side. A child was ill and recovered, 
and a servant died. This led to a sanitary inspection of the 
bouse, and the discovery that the waste pipe of the kitchen 
siuk joined an old drain which led to a cesspool under the 
new dining room, the existence of which bad been previously 
unsuspected. 

Moral.—In adding to a bouse, make sure that all drains 
traversing the site and all cesspools have been obliterated. 


* 




PLATE XXXVI 


'G 




Addition to a house built over an unsuspected cesspool. 











































































































































77 


PLATE XXXVIII. 


“Where is the Butler?” 


For this fact I am again indebted to Mr. John Bradley, of 
Leeds. 

“ A gentleman came to reside in an old family mansion. 
Having friends to dinner one evening, and requiring more 
wine, he rang the bell. No butler came. He rang a second 
and third time with the same result. Waxing w r roth, he 
went in search, but could get no tidings of him. On further 
search the butler was discovered in an old cesspool in the 
wine cellar, the floor of which had broken in. The poor 
butler, after much difficulty, w r as extricated, only just in time 
for his life to he saved after much suffering and a month of 
medical attendance. It appears that the existence of this 
cesspool was unknown, and that so long as the sewage of the 
house went ‘ somewhere,’ no enquiries were made to ascertain 
where.” 

A similar fact was told to me by a lady, as having occurred 
in a large house at Brighton. A cask of beer was being 
rolled along the cellar, when the floor gave way over an 
unsuspected cesspool. 

Moral.—Test all the floors of your cellars by “sounding 
Vide Plate XXX. 


55 




PLATE XXXVIII. 


78 



More wine wanted. Where is the butler? 


























































































































































































































































70 


PLATE XXXIX. 


Broken junction of drain with soil-pipe, 
leakage into disused well under keeping 

cellar. 


This fault was discovered in a house in Park Row, formerly 
occupied by myself, but now used as offices. About three years 
and a half ago complaints were made of bad smells in the 
house, and some of the inmates were unwell. On inspection 
it was discovered that an old disused well partly under the 
keeping cellar was becoming a cesspool from leakage through 
its walls from the w.c. drain. This drain had become 
defective at the junction of the vertical soil-pipe with the 
horizontal drain. It appeared that the' soil-pipe had settled , 
and by its weight had broken the flange of the drain-pipe , 
causing the sewage to flow into the rock underneath the cellar 
floor, and so into the well. The drain pipes were repaired, 
and the well was filled, up. 


4 




PLATE XXXIX. 


80 



Well under a house fouled by leakage from broken 
junction of soil pipe with drain. 


































































































PLATE XL. 


Common stone drain under tiled 
entrance hall, leaking at every joint, and 
forming an extensive cesspool under the 

house. 


This example was communicated to me by Dr. Britton, 
medical officer of health for the Halifax Rural Sanitary 
district, in the following note :— 

“ Enteric (typhoid) fever broke out in a gentleman’s house, 
“ from which it spread into the village. On examination I 
“ found that the w.c. was in the centre of tie house , and that 
“ the soil-pipe discharged into a common stone drain running 
“ under a tiled entrance hall. This drain was almost without 
“ fall, so much so, that it had become blocked, and the sewage 
“ had found its way under the flooring of the passage and rooms f 
It goes to a mail’s heart to take up a tiled hall in order to 
inspect a drain. Moral .—The drain ought never to have been 
placed under the hall. 




A ' 

PLATE L 


&2 



Common stone drain under tiled hall, leaking at every 
joint, and forming a large cesspool under the house. 


G 


























































































































































































































































































































83 


PLATE LI. 

Joints opened by giving way of 

foundations. 


“ When drains are laid in new made ground, unless care be 
“ taken to ram the earth sufficiently hard round about them, 
“ and this is next to impossible, the pipes will open at the 
“ sockets, and sodden the ground in their neighbourhood to a 
“ dangerous extent.” 

Sanitary arrangements of Dwellings, Eassie, p. 22. 

This may occur in laying drains in newly-made ground, and 
it frequently does occur where the drain trench has been 
unevenly cut, and where inequalities of level are carelessly filled 
in with soft soil, which after a short time settles, and allows 
the joints to open. 




XU\ 

PLATE LI. 


84 



Joints gaping from sinking of foundations. 






























































































PLATE LI I. 


“ Poisoned by next door neighbour’s 

drains.” 


It is not easy to obtain an unexceptionable illustration 
of this clanger. I feel convinced, however, that it does occur 
occasionally, either from leakage of drains soaking the party 
wall, or from a neighbour’s soil-pipe running in the thickness 
of, or even on the inside of the party wall of the suffering 
house, or again from the diffusion of sewer gases through the 
wall itself. 

Since the publication of the first edition of this book several 

/ 

instances of this danger have been communicated to me. 

For the drawing and facts of this plate, I am indebted to 
Mr. Foster, Artist, of Headingley, who says—“ I enclose you a 
“ sketch of the defect in the drainage of the house in which the 
“ fatal case of typhoid fever occurred. The foundation of the 
“ house had given way, and the earth at the side sinking with 
“ it opened the joints of the pipes which ran under the yard of 
“ their neighbour’s house.” 

It is difficult enough to manage one’s own drains, almost 
Utopian to hope to rectify the drains of one’s neighbour. 




86 



























































































87 


PLATE Llll 

Speculating builder buying “Seconds.” 

On one of the occasions of the delivery of my lecture in a 
suburb of Leeds, one of our leading builders stated that it 
was well known by the building trade that dishonest builders 
of cheap houses were in the habit of buying “ Seconds ” 
sanitary tubes, i.e ., rejected broken tubes, at half price, in order 
to lay them in the houses they were building, in obedience to 
the law requiring them to lay a drain. Such tubes are 
defective either by fracture or by being mis-shapen, oval 
instead of round, or vice versa . Each such defect would allow 
a leakage, and the formation of a cesspool at the faulty point. 
In drains, as in chains, the value of the whole drain is deter¬ 
mined by the value of its weakest point, and if at the weakest 
point there is a leakage, the whole drain may be worthless 
and disastrous. 

If this picture has the effect of gibbeting such scoundrels, 
and making scamped drain-work less feasible, it will have 
served its purpose. 

“ ‘ Jeremiahs ’ buy ‘seconds’ because they can’t get 
“‘thirds,’” said an honest Yorkshireman on seeing this 
picture. 

“Jerry veal” is the tiesh of calves which have been born 
dead, or have died soon after birth—an “ article of commerce ” 
in former days. 





Jerry builder” buying “Seconds. 





































89 


PLATE LIV. 

Drain made of “ Seconds ” tubes. 

Here are seen the results of scamped drain-work and cheap 
“ Seconds ” pipes. Such pipes are used mostly for the outside 
drains of cheaply built cottages and houses, and are sometimes 
found inside a house. 

The pipes AA. are broken at the flange, BB. at the smaller 
end, and FF. are mis-shapen, spoiled in the baking, oval 
instead of round. Each of these defects renders a sound joint 
impossible. 

C. has a fissured surface, D. has been broken and pieced 
together, a condition of pipe which Mr. Burton, the lithographer 
. of this book, himself witnessed in his own house, and which 
he has drawn ‘ con amore.’ The workman declared that he 
could not afford to put in a new pipe. 

G\ shews careless connection of a waste-pipe. Instead of a 
tube with a proper junction as part of its construction, a hole 
has been broken into the tube, and the lead pipe passed 
through without luting. Moreover, the waste-pipe projects 
so far into the drain-pipe as to form an obstruction to the 
proper flow of selvage. Vide Plate XLVII. 

A drain formed of imperfect tubes with unluted joints, and 
insufficient fall, was found under the house of Mr. Carter, 
dentist, in Park Square. The soil under the floor of the 
kitchen was saturated with sewage, and the villany was 
rendered complete by the entire omission of a pipe for 
connecting the drain with the main-sewer. 

Mr. Carter, by his removal into this house, got “ out of the 
frying-pan into the fire.” He had left his previous residence 
in consequence of “ drain-begotten ” illness in his family, and 
because of the rats which he had shot with an air gun by the 
dozen in his kitchen. 

A medical friend illustrated one of my lectures by “ seconds 
pipes ” just discovered in his own house, which had been 
recently built at a cost of £3,000. 





Drain made of “Seconds.” Manslaughter under an “alias. 
























































































































































































PLATE LV. 


“ Putty joints ” in leaden soil pipes. 

This is scamped work. In order to save his pocket the 
plumber will sometimes save the cost of solder, and join the 
leaden soil pipes with putty and inferior material. The result 
is that the joint is insecure, soon gives way, cracks and gapes, 
and allows sewer gas to escape into the house. 

A flaw in the joint can be detected by the current of air 
against the flame of a candle, and the quality of the material 
may be tested by its easily giving way to the Auger or a 
knife. 

Leaden soil pipes ought to be carefully joined together by 
solder, and to have no crevice through which air can pass. 




92 


X V v 

PLATE LV. 





* 




Putty Joints . 5 

































93 


PLATE LVI. 

Curves made by straight pipes. 

Such work is down-right scamping. To save trouble or 
expense straight pipes are joined at angles wdiich allow gaping 
and leakage at every joint. If such ill-made bends are under 
a house, a large cesspool is there formed—if outside the house 
the leakage may soak towards the wall of the house and make 
it damp, foul, and poisonous. 

About two years ago a friend of mine was preparing his 
house for his intended bride, and like a wise man had the 
drainage looked to, and finding it very had, was re-constructing 
it. He took me early one morning to see the new work that 
was being done, and to show me a bend made by straight 
pipes, part of which we had to uncover in order to see it. 

Another instance was found in the house of a patient of 
Mr. Horsfall, of Leeds, who, in consequence of the illness for 
which he was in attendance, urged an exploration of the drains. 
This examination discovered a drain under the kitchen floor, 
not only open at the joints, but with bends made by straight 
pipes, so that half the sewage had remained under the floor. 





PLATE LVI 



A. Curves made by straight pipes, leakage at every 

joint. 

B. Curve made by proper bend. 























95 


PLATE LVII. 

“ Junctions.” 


A. This is scamped work. From idleness or false economy 
a junction is made with a drain pipe by breaking a hole at the 
top or side of a pipe, and simply passing the joining pipe 
through the hole. This involves at least two grievous 
defects— (a) the hole through which the joining pipe passes 
cannot be properly luted— (b) the intruding pipe projects into 
the receiving pipe, intercepts the solid parts of the sewage, and 
by degrees dams it up. 

Several instances of this fault have been related to me— 
one by the medical officer of a recently-built workhouse in 
Yorkshire, in which, in addition, it was found that the main 
drains were led “ up hill; ” a second was communicated to 
me by Dr. Churton, of Leeds, as having been discovered in a 
house he recently occupied. 

B. A properly-made junction. 

C. Sometimes it is necessary to tap a drain and let in a 
new pipe. In such a case the hole carefully cut in the old 
pipe should be capped by an “ eyelet,” and made safe by 
cement. 




9G 


X ^ 

PLATE LVII. 



A. Badly made junction. 
Blocked drain. 


B. Proper junction. 


C. “ Eyelet ” for 


making a new junction in pipes 
already laid. 

















97 


PLATE LVIII. 

Pipes laid the wrong way. 

This arrangement of pipes was discovered in our new 
Infirmary, by Mr. Chorley. Bain-fall pipes carried under a 
room, were leaking at each socket, rendering the soil damp. 

This arrangement reduces very greatly the “ water 
tightness ” of the joints. 

I have been told that builders in some parts of Yorkshire 
maintain that to place drain-pipes upside down is the correct 
way. 









PLATE XLVIII. 


y« 



n 


Pipes laid with the flange downhill. 





























































































99 


PLATE XL! X. 

Drain under a house running up-hill. 

This illustration is contributed by Mr. Pickles, Surgeon, of 
Leeds. He had a slight scratch on the finger from which 
inflammation started and spread up the arm, due as he supposed 
to poison received in attending a patient. Soon after the 
recovery of the arm, he was again laid up with rheumatism of 
a low type. His medical attendant suggested that the house 
drain was probably the cause of the whole mischief. As soon 
as he was well enough he had his drains examined, and 
reported the result to me in the following note. 

“ I have had all my drain-pipes taken up, and I find the 
“ following defects :— 

“ The fall from the place where the soil-pipe enters the pot 
“ drains is very defective, the level being higher in the centre 
“ than at the termination. 

\ 

“ The drain-pipes themselves (six-inch pot drains) were full 
“of thick sewage matter, and had no luting or cement 
“ between them. Lastly, at the very spot where the soil-pipe 
“ is connected with the pot drain pipes, there is a broken and 
“ defective‘pot.’” 

The w.c. was at the back of the house, and the drain ran 
under a cellar kitchen, not, as in the drawing, immediately 
under the hall floor. 





100 


PLATE XLIX. 



Drain under house, with fall the wrong way. Broken 
pipe at the junction with the “soil-pipe.” 

















































































































































































































































101 


PLATE L. 

Disconnected and misconnected. 


Mr. A. B., Town Cleik of the town of C., tells me that 
his house, situated 450 yards from the high road, w r as 
originally drained by nine-inch pipes into a pond a little 
beyond the high road. Early in 1876 the district was sewered, 
and the drain was cut otf from the pond and connected with 
the main-sewer. In July, 1876, a maid and servant lad 
were seized with typhoid fever ; the maid died and the lad 
recovered. 

After the death, the drains were examined, and it was found 
(a) that waste-pipes from the kitchen, washhouse, pantry, and a 
lavatory, passed untrapped into the drains, with the illusory 
protection of a hell trap, (b) That the connection of the drain 
with the new sewer was so defective that the drain was blocked 
up at the junction, a nine-inch pipe having been inserted into 
an eighteen-inch pipe without any proper junction. 




PLATE L. 


102 



Disconnected from pond. Misconnected with sewer. 


















































































































































103 


PLATE LI. 

“To be continued in our next.” 


This example was also contributed to me by Dr. Britton, 
of Halifax, in the following note. 

“ In a gentleman’s house the children were always ailing, 
“ and in consequence I ordered an inspection of the soil-pipe 
“which was supposed to run under the house and some 
“ outbuildings, and to join a main-drain in the road behind. 
“ On the floor of the cellar and coal cellar being taken up, 
“ there was found a very large quantity of sewage, which had 
“ been accumulating ever since the house had been built , seven 
“ years before. 

“ During the whole of this time all the sewage from the 
“ w.c. had run under the floor of these cellars ; for at the end 
“ of the coal cellar the soil-pipe came to an abrupt conclusion 
“ against a mass of solid rock, twelve yaids thick, at the other 
“ side of which a pipe was placed and connected with the 
“main-drain in the road. No doubt it was in order to save 
“ the expense of blasting through the rock that the contractor 
“ had scamped the work.” 


“ The authorities saw the junction.” 

Until recently in Leeds, and probably in many a town 
besides, the following was the practice as to the inspection of 
sewers by the local authority. The Borough Inspector 
having received due notice from a builder of his intention to 
connect a house drain with a public sewer, came and “ saw the 
last pipe put in ; ” with what security to the public may be 
judged from this Plate. 

Nay, more, a builder from a neighbouring town told me 
that by a judicious tip he could dispense with even this 
formality, if it were inconvenient to suit the time of the 
Inspector. 






104 


PLATE LI. 
















































































PLATE LII. 


(A) D rain making the best of a rock. 

The w.c. drain (A) is blocked as far as a rise in the drain, 
which was carried by curved tubes over the rock in order to 
avoid the trouble and expense of cutting through the rock. 
The fact expressed by this drawing, which looks like a 
caricature, was related to me by the landlord for whom 
the houses were built. Several builders who have seen the 
picture, have told me that they have seen drains so (mis) laid, 
and I know of one house in which this has been discovered to 
he the cause of obstructed drains since the publication of my 
lecture. 

Since the publication of this plate I have been told, on 
many occasions by eyewitnesses, of the not unfrequent 
occurrence of this piece of rascality. 

(B) w.c. discharging into the basement 

of a house. 

The soil-pipe (B) missing the drain-pipe (C) had discharged 
the whole of the sewage into a triangular space below the 
ground floor. This went on for several months before the 
discovery of the defect was made, during which time “ they 
never had the doctor out of the house ” 





~|Ti,ni 


PLATE HI. 


106 

















































































































































107 


PLATE Llll. 

Economy in digging at the expense of 

“ fall ” in a drain. 


This fact was related to me by a house agent and rent 
collector. A careless builder sometimes puts in the junction 
with a drain soon after commencing to build a house. When 
the time comes to lay the drain he finds that he has allowed 
far too little “ fall.” His duty w r ould be to relay the drain 
and connection with the sewer with a proper incline. But 
this w r ould cost money in excavation ; so he saves his pocket, 
and leaves the drain to tell its own tale, when in due time 
the unlucky tenant finds his drains stopped, his house foul, 
his family ill, and the “ tale told.” 





108 


plate liii. 



























































































































109 


PLATE LIV. 

Six-inch pipe interpolated between two 

four-inch pipes. 

This was discovered in some property which I bought 
six years ago. A cellar of one house was flooded by the 
overflow of an ash-pit, the drain of which was blocked up. 
The drain was followed, and traced to a junction with the w.c. 
drain of the next house. On enquiry, I found that this w.c. 
had long acted imperfectly, and no wonder, as the drain was 
blocked up for six feet, owing to the interpolation of a 6-inch 
between two 4-inch pipes. 

A gross instance of this mode of scamping is thus described 
to me by Dr. Murray, of Burley-in-Wharfedale :— 

“ Some villas were drained by 12-inch pipes, which passed 
“ along the road into a field where a cesspool ought to have 
“ been constructed (according to plans passed by the Local 
“ Board). Having carried the 12-incli drain into the field, 
“ the contractor, coming across ordinary 2-inch draining 
“ tiles, connects the larger with the smaller pipes, and fills up 
“ the trench. In a short time a block takes place, and the 
“ sewage bursts up into the field. Two cases of typhoid 
“ fever occurred in one of the houses.” 




110 


PLATE LIV. 



Six-inch pipe between two four-inch pipes. 







































































































































































Ill 


plate lv. 

Road scrapings and ash-pit refuse for 

mortar and plaster. 

This picture represents what has been, I fear, only too 
common an occurrence of late years in Leeds. Road scrapings 
from our Corporation depots, and the emptyings of common 
ash-pits instead of loads of clean mill cinders, have been 
ground up along with a bare pretence of lime, to make the 
mortar for setting the bricks, and the plaster for covering the 
walls of miserable tenements. 

This mud-made mortar sets so slowly, that the builder has 
to prop the wall (this I have seen), and, as I have often been 
told, has to light fires against the wall to “ encourage ” the 
mortar to set. 

Walls plastered with such rubbish are slow in drying, have 
large greasy patches which strike through whitewash, 
crumble when a nail is driven into them, and probably are a 
prolific source of the illnesses from which people suffer who 
inhabit newly-finished houses. 

“ If you bray a nail into the wall, half of it comes down ”— 
said a Leeds victim, suffering from disease of lung, probably 
brought on by the unwholesomeness of the walls of his house. 

The following fact was told by a leading Leeds builder to 
the gentleman who related it to me :— 

“ In about 60 new ‘ speculators’ ’ houses not a single load 
“ of clean lime was used—mortar and plaster were made of 
“ lime which had done duty in tan pits ”—therefore spent, 
and full of animal cleansings. The builders of the houses 
were also the owners. 




112 


PLATE LV. 




“ Road muck” and “midden refuse” for mortar and 

plaster. 










































































































































113 


PLATE LVI. 

Terrace of the Future on the Refuse 

of the Past. 


This plate needs but few words. Until recently, no check 
has been put upon the haste of speculating builders, who 
have built thousands of houses on unhealthy rubbish heaps, 
long before the animal and vegetable refuse has had time to 
ferment, decompose, and cease to be poisonous. Within 
the last few years, a plot of land, which served as the depot 
for the road scrapings of the Corporation of Leeds, has been 
covered with houses and shops. Such proceedings will surely 
be impossible in the future ; thanks to the new Building 
Bye-Laws of our town. Vide Appendix, (§ 4). 

For a vivid description of “ foul made-ground,” let 
anyone read in Scribners Magazine for May, 1881, an article 
“ On the Sanitary Condition of New York.” 




114 



PLATE LVI. 


<3 


Terrace of the Future on Refuse of the Past . 1 





























115 


PLATE LVII. 

Hunting for drains.—No plans. 

This plate is intended to enforce a lesson and to proclaim 
a fact. Th § fact is, that it is extremely rare for the owner 
of a house, still more rare for the tenant, to possess a plan of 
his drains. A house is built, and sold, and occupied, and 
after the lapse of a few months, or it may he a few years, 
the drains are blocked, and need examination, and no clue 
can be found to their whereabouts. The architect, perhaps, 
is dead, the builder a bankrupt, and the workmen are 
dispersed. The lesson is that every house ought to have 
attached to it a plan of the drains as a matter of right and 
law. 







PLATE LVII. 


116 





On the wrong scent.”—No plans of the drains. 













































































































117 


PLATE LVIII. 

Drains blocked by willow roots. 

For the sketch and fact on which this drawing is based, I 
am indebted to the Bev. A. C. Black, of Burley-in-Wharfe- 
dale:— 

The main sewer of Burley was found to be blocked close 
to the wall of the Vicarage garden. The roots of a very fine 
willow tree had penetrated the joints of the drain pipes, and 
having thriven and increased in the congenial feeding ground 
within the drain, had caused a block. 

A second instance of a drain blocked by willow roots was 
communicated to me by Mrs. Priestley, of Hertford Street, 
Mayfair. 

A third instance came to me from the Bev. Stephen Saxby, 
of East Clevedon, who once found 20-feet of drain pipes 
filled by willow roots. 

Moral. —When laying drains in wet ground near to 'willow 
trees, unite the pipes by cement, and not by clay. The fine 
roots can penetrate the clay, and so gain access to the drain. 
As a rule, however, clay is preferred as luting, being 
constantly moist and not liable to crack. 




138 


PLATE LVIII, 




w 


The battle of the willow trees,” Drains blocked by willow roots. 







































































119 


PLATE LIX. 

Cesspools under London houses. 

A London physician contributed the sketch from which this 
drawing is made. On investigating the sanitary arrangements 
of his house, he found no less than five cesspools and 

their connecting drains under the basement of his house. 

_ * 

The w. c. was in the centre of the house, joining one of the 
cesspools in the cellar. On shewing the sketch to another 
physician, neighbour to the friend who supplied this fact, 
he told me that he discovered the very same arrangement of 
cesspools in his own house. 

A lady friend writing from London says :—“ In many 
“ parts of London the old cesspools still exist, and are only 
“ discovered by falling in. (Vide Plate XXX VIII). These 
“ were never fairly done away with when the new system of 
“ drainage was introduced. In Edinburgh numbers of the 
“ houses still have cesspools, which are never emptied until a 
“ blockage takes place, or sickness breaks out. My youthful 
“ recollections of Edinburgh in my father’s handsome house, 
“ most beautifully situated, recall abasement which must have 
“ been flooded with sewage. I now know that the drainage 
“ of the house went into a cesspool which no one ever 
“ enquired into, and which never was emptied during the 
“ whole of my youth. We were always having fevers, but it 
“ was accepted as a thing natural to youth. These reflections 
“ are dreadful. 

“ When a house in Mayfair was being done up about 
“ four years ago, the men were digging at the foundations, 
“ when they suddenly broke into a horrible pit, the effluvia 
“ from which sent them flying in all directions. It was then 
“ found to have been a pit into which cattle had been thrown 
“ during a murrain when Mayfair was a large farm.” 




mum 


PLATE LIX. 


120 



\ 


















































































































































































PLATE LX. 


Vicarage rendered unhealthy by adjoining 

graveyard. 

For this fact I am indebted to the Fev. A. C. Downer, Vicar 
of Ilkley. It was communicated to him in a letter as follows : 
—“ I strove to serve three churches without even one curate, 
and when I was already nearly broken down with this, 
infiltration from the churchyard into our cellars caused much 
and grievous illness amongst us; and the mischief proving 
incurable, we wero finally driven out of our lovely vicarage 
altogether. I had for months been prostrate with low fever 
and ague.” 




PLATE LX 




Vicarage rendered unhealthy by infiltration from churchyard. 


















































































PLATE LXI. 




Cellar damp from slop water. 

In a vicarage in a Yorkshire country town the cellars were 
constantly “ standing in water,” and were so damp that they 
could not he used. The water was supposed to he surface 
water, and the question of an expensive drain to intercept the 
water was considered. 

The Vicar’s" child, being in ill health, was taken to a 
watering place and put under medical treatment. The doctor 
suspected insanitary conditions at home, and at his suggestion 
an efficient sanitary inspection was made, and the conditions 
represented in the plate were disclosed. 

The housemaid’s sink passed down the wall of the kitchen 
to join a drain, ruuning between the arched ceiling of the 
cellar and the kitchen door, where the drain passed over one 
of the piers of the cellar; the drain pipes had settled down 
and opened at the joints, thereby discharging all the slops 
from the housemaid’s sink through the middle of the pier into 
the foundations of the cellar floors. 




124 


PLATE LXI. 





Cellar kept damp twelve years by slop water. 












































































125 


PLATE LXII. 

A villa at Cannes. 


Not many years ago a lady was advised to winter in the 
South of France for the improvement of her health. Whilst 
she was residing in a villa at Cannes, her maid fell ill of 
typhoid fever. The lady at once took a sanitary survey of 
the house, and found that under the maid’s room there was a 
foul w.c., which discharged its contents into a large tank in 
the room below. The overflow from the tank was soaking 
the floor of this room, which was next to the larder and close 
by the kitchen. 

Moral.—“ Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare 
currunt.” “Dangers to health” are not lessened by going 
to Continental health resorts. 

The more strongly English public opinion realises this 
fact and makes its dissatisfaction therewith felt, the 
sooner will the authorities of these Continental cities 
feel that in self-interest they must study and set right 
the grave sanitary deficiencies which from time to time 
are hut too painfully forced upon the notice of the 
English public. 




I 


12G 



A Villa at Cannes 






















































































































127 


PLATE LXIII. 


A Scotch mansion let for the season. 


The fact expressed in this picture was told to me by a 
colleague. He was called into Scotland to see a lady ill in 
puerperal fever, her husband having taken the house for the 
double purpose of a summer holiday and also of securing a 
healthy place for the event which was expected. 

The kind of illness suggested insanitary conditions and an 
investigation. The result of the inspection of the house was 
communicated to me by the father-in-law of the lady as 
follows.—“ There were nine w.c’s., six of them in the centre 
of the house. All the communications from them were under 
the house and passed to the front, where the main drain went. 
About forty yards from the house the pipe from the laundry 
joined the main drain, and here a stoppage was found. 
Beyond this junction the drain was continued to the river 
three quarters of a mile. I examined the drain beyond the 
stoppage, and was certain that no sewage had passed for a 
long time. I was satisfied that the pipe near the house was 
only a cesspool.” 

Moral.—In selecting a house for a summer holiday don’t 
forget to look after the drains, and if possible have the house 
examined by an inspector on whom you can rely. 






PLATE LX 111 



Eligible Mansion” in Scotland let for the season. 


































































































































































































































129 


PLATE LXIV. 


Shooting Box in the Highlands. 

The wife of a medical friend of mine preceded her husband 
to the Highlands that she might set in order the shooting- 
lodge before the arrival of her husband and his guests. Being 
well informed in sanitary requirements and deficiencies, she 
did not take it for granted that her orders had been strictly 
carried out, that the drainage should be put into perfect order. 

That she might test the main drain, she posted herself at 
the empty cesspool, whilst her daughter, stationed at the house, 
gave a signal, when several buckets of water were poured into 
the drain; after long waiting some driblets of water reached 
the cesspool, not through the drain, but through chinks in 
the side of the cesspool. 

Inference . Drains must be blocked. 

Workmen came, found the drain running up-hill and 
blocked by roots of willow tree. (1. A.) 

The drain was relaid with a proper fall, (1. B.) The pipes 
were jointed in cement instead of clay in order to shut out 
willow roots and such like intruders, and five openings to the 
surface were provided in order to secure ample ventilation of 
the pipes. The lady meantime sat by knitting and watching 
the whole of the work. 

Figure 2 is drawn, in error, too much like the other two. 
It is intended, however, to represent a separate drain from 
the laundry to a separate cesspool. A fortnight after the 
assembling of the visitors, a stench was complained of by the 
laundry maids. On investigation it was found that the pipe 
by which the laundry cesspool overflowed was at a higher 
level than the pipe through which the cesspool was filled, the 
result being that before any overflow could take place the 
level of fluid in the cesspool must rise above the inlet pipe 
and close it to all escape of air and sewer gas. 

The evil was corrected : firstly, by making the outlet pipe 
of the cesspool lower than the inlet. Secondly, by making 
ventilating openings into the drain at various points. 




PLATE LXIV 




“ One eye for 


her work, and another for the workmen,” 



2 . 


A Highland Shooting Lodge. 



































131 


* 


PLATE LXV. 

Manure heap piled against the wall of 

a house. 


Although I have no authentic facts to relate in proof of 
the dangers involved in the conditions here depicted, I have 
strong reason to believe that in two instances they were the 
source of diphtheria. 

In a farm house, high up on the moors of Yorkshire, a' case 
of diphtheria occurred. There was no house near it, and no 
known source of contagion. 

In another instance in a small farm house high up in the 
Welsh hills, diphtheria broke out. 

The only obvious insanitary condition (and this common to 
both) was the condition of the stable } 7 ard, the manure being 
habitually piled up against the wall of the house, so that 
both wall and floor were damp. 

Such conditions are unsafe, even though they may not have 
been, as I have surmised, the cause of the diphtheria. 

A medical friend told me of illness in a house which lie 
attributed to a similar cause. All the sanitary arrangements 
of the house had been carried out with great care, the w.c.’s, 
sinks, and baths being disconnected, but the side wall of the 
house and of a cellar beneath had recently become damp, 
from a large heap of manure placed against the side of the 
house by the gardener, and used as a hot bed. 









Manure heaps against house walls. 

























































183 


PLATE LXVI. 

Vaccination and drainage faults. 

When a case of death or serious illness occurs after 
vaccination, it is generally seized hold of by “ misguided 
and imperfectly informed persons,” who make capital out of 
it, in order to induce people to believe that vaccination is 
injurious and useless. In the trials that such persons get up 
the fact is often brought out that several infants have been 
vaccinated from one source, and that, whilst one infant has 
suffered seriously after the vaccination, the rest have passed 
through it without a drawback. It is clear that, in the one 
exceptional case, some factor distinct from the vaccine is 
needed to explain the result. 

The following facts, related to me by Mr. Edward 
Atkinson, of Leeds, may throw light on such cases. 

A healthy child, aged 4 months, went on well until the 9th 
day after vaccination, when it became feverish, and abscesses 
formed in the finger and ankle. The illness suggested an 
inspection of the drains, when it was found that the waste 
pipes of a lavatory and bath near the nursery were untrapped, 
and passed direct into a soil pipe. 

Dr. Britton, of Halifax, tells me of an instance in which - 
erysipelas attending vaccination was traced to an open 
cesspool just under the nursery window. 




134 


PLATE LXVI. 



A hint on Vaccination, 














































































































135 




PLATE LXVII. 

Arsenical Wall Papers. 

This danger cannot well he expressed in a drawing. In 
order, however, to keep to the fundamental principle of the 
book, viz., to appeal to the eye in order to enforce every 
lesson, this plate is given as expressing the fact of arsenical 
paper being stripped off a wall. 

Much has been written in medical and lay journals of the 
injury to health inflicted by arsenic in wall papers. 

During the last four years I have traced ailments to this 
cause in several instances, and I keep, as trophies, pieces of 
the detected and condemned papers. 

About seven years ago my own children were unwell from 
sleeping in a newly-papered bedroom. The paper had a 
brilliant green pattern, and was guaranteed “ free from 
arsenic.” The illness of one child after another led me to 
have the paper examined by my friend Mr. Scat.tergood, and 
he reported the paper full of arsenic in a loose and dangerous 
form. The paperlianger was dismayed, replaced the paper, 
and, I believe, no longer takes “ warranted ” papers on trust. 

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, the 
dangers from arsenic in wall papers and other articles of 
every-day use have received ample illustration from the facts 
most industriously collected by Mr. Henry Carr, 21, Cedars 
lload, Clapham, who has written a pamphlet and lectured 
before the Society of Arts on the subject. Speaking of this 
illustration, he says “ you want another figure. A man going 
away—can stand it no longer. This is a common fact.” 

Akin to this subject is the filthy custom of placing a new 
paper on a wall withput stripping off the old one. In one 
instance five papers were removed from the wall of a room, 
the occupants of which had been constantly ill. 






























































































































































































































137 


# 


PLATE LXVIII. 


Admission of Fresh Air and Exclusion 

of -Dirt. 


It is with some diffidence that I venture to offer remarks on 
ventilation. 

Without entering on a discussion of the merits of various 
plans proposed for admitting fresh air into rooms, I will 
state what lias been done in a house, specially fitted for the 
use of invalids, and in my own consulting-room. Bearing in 
mind the teaching of Plate III., that the chimney has to be 
supplied with air, a Tobin’s tube, with a sectional area 
about equal to the chimney pot, was placed in each 
room. The effect of this is that the rooms are constantly 
fresh night and day, that irregular draughts are much 
reduced, and that, except in cold weather (an outside 
temperature below 32°), the ventilators are rarely closed. 

Having secured for each room its own supply of air for 
the chimney, the next question was, how to clean the air, 
and exclude the dirt. I had long seen that, if air is to pass 
through a screen without retardation of the current entering 
the room through the tube, the area of the screen must be 
many times (perhaps 15 or 20 times) the area of the section 
of the tube. Acting upon a suggestion of Messrs. Bapty, 
of Leeds and Bombay, I requested Messrs. Harding, of East 
Parade, Leeds, to place a screen, if possible, in the tube 
itself, telling them that the screen must be at least ten times 
the area of the section of the tube, and that the section of the 




138 


PLATE LXVIII. 



Ventilation without Dirt. 































































































tube must equal the section of the chimney pot. Mr. Joseph 
Harding very shortly hit upon the happy idea of placing the 
screen in the tube diagonally from top to bottom, and thus 
achieved what I was seeking. 

Kecentty, Messrs. Harding have invented a means 
of admitting air into a room without draught, named a 
“ Diffuser.” It is a contrivance by which the fresh air is 
shot into the room through a series of short tubes placed in 
the front and sides of a box. This box being placed near 
the ceiling, the cold air mixes with the warm air, and thereby 
no draught is felt. The form of ventilation, therefore, which 
I have found to answer best is a combination of Harding’s 
“ Diffuser,” with the broad fiat tube containing a screen. 
As in this arrangement the tube reaches almost to the ceiling, 
the screen has to be withdrawn downwards from the tubes. 
I am satisfied that ky means of this apparatus we can secure 
in a town freshness of atmosphere, absence of draught, 
and exclusion of dirt. 

(A) is the grate in the outer wall, to keep out birds and 
mice. This grate must not “ throttle ” the air, must not 
admit less air than the tube it has to supply can carry. 

(B) is the screen covered with canvas or bunting. It 
slides in grooves, and is removed twice a week that it may be 
brushed, or the meshes would be choked. 

(C) is a door to allow the screen to be withdrawn from the 
bottom of the tube, for the purpose of cleansing. 

(D) is a slit, closed by a valve, through which a slide can 
be passed to shut off the current of air. 

(E) Harding’s “ Diffuser.” 

Harding’s “Diffuser'’ is patented, but the screen is not 
patented. 


140 


Floral Art Ventilator. 


The Floral Art Ventilator is an elegant contrivance for 
introducing fresh air into a room by the open window 
without draught. An inner casement serves the double 
purpose of a screen, and a conservatory, within which 
growing plants purify and moisten the air, as it passes 
upwards. 

It has been designed by the wife of a physician living in 
Mayfair, and is most artistic in effect. In winter it may act 
as a double window to keep out the cold, or as a fire-screen 
to keep off the heat The invention has been registered by 
the National Health Society, to whom it was presented, and 
has been introduced to the public by Messrs. Howell & James, 
of Regent Street, who are sole licencees. 


Finally, let me remind my readers that all passive 
ventilators for the admission of air depend essentially for 
their efficiency upon the indraught of fires in a room or 
house, or upon wind pressure outside the house. 






141 


PLATE LXIX. 

Why Glass Cases don't exclude Dust, and 
how to make them do so. 

Dust is the ruin of collections in museums, and a perpetual 
source of most annoying expense. It is a discredit to science 
that we have not conquered such an extravagant enemy, and 
yet I feel sure that the remedy is a simple one, if we will 
but ask ourselves the question : why does dust always enter 
the most carefully made glass cases ? 

The answer is clear. The air inside the case is constantly 

«/ 

altering in volume, under changes of temperature, and changes 
of barometric pressure. This perpetual variation causes the 
entrance of perpetual currents of dirt-laden air through minute 
crevices. What, then, should be done P First and foremost, 
the fact must be acknowledged, and a sufficient air channel 
made, so that (as in Plate III.) the air may enter by the 
“ legitimate ” channel, and the “irregular” channels may 
cease to act; next, the “legitimate” channel must screen the 
air. For achieving this let me venture to make several 
suggestions. 

Suggestion A —This is an inverted square tube, of a section 
4 inches square, attached to the side of a glass case in the 
Museum of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. 
The mouth of the tube is filled with light It/- packed cotton 
wool. In a few months the outer part of the wool was 
blackened with dust. Such a tube, however, is probably far 
too small. 

Suggestion B .—That one or both ends of a glass case be 
closed with wire, for safety, and the wire covered with baize 
or bunting, which would admit the air and exclude the dirt. 

Suggestion C. —This, if it would act, would be the most 
scientific, most self-acting, and most perfect. It is based on 
a suggestion of Dr. Eddison, of Leeds: —Having ascertained 
from Professor Pucker that the volume of air in a case will 
vary in volume about one-tentli, it occurred to me that the 
back of a glass case might be made double, the distance 
between the two backs being equal to one-tenth of the depth 
of the case from front to back. Then if the “ inner back ” 
stopped short of the top of the case by two inches, and the 
“ outer back ” stopped short of the floor by two inches, there 
would be free ingress and egress of air between the interior 
of the case and the space within the double back, but the 
outer dirt-carrying air would never directly reach the interior. 




142 


PLATE LX IX. 



Dust the ruin of Museums. Why not keep it out? 

















































































































143 


PLATE LXX. 


“Window Ventilator” in the Roof of a 

Brougham. 


Having, during- the last eight or nine years, derived much 
comfort from the window ventilator, I wish to publish this 
for the benefit, more especially, of my medical brethren. As 
many of them spend a great part of their life inside a carriage, 
it is for them highly important;—Firstly, that they should 
breathe as pure an air as possible, and that without the 
infliction of a draught. Secondly, that they should be able 
to read with the best light attainable, a roof light, and avoid 
the distressing variations of the side light in passing through 
the streets. 

The idea of a roof light was suggested to me by my friend 
Mr. It. P. Oglesby. On giving instructions for the roof light 
to the carriage builder, Mr. Bradley, of Leeds, he suggested 
that the window should be on a hinge, and should open 
backwards, and thus supply ventilation. The result exceeded 
my expectations. The following points must be attended to 
in its construction :— 

The size of the window should be about 18 inches by 8. 

% 

The position should be vertically over the place in which 
the book is held, i.e., over the knees. This is important for 
three reasons—the first, that it is the best position for illu¬ 
minating the book ; the second, that if there should be a strong 
wind from the rear, no draught can come upon the head; the 
third, that if during rain an occasional drop of water enters, 
it will not fall on the cushion, but upon the floor, or a rug on 
the knee. 




144 


PLATE LXX 



Window Ventilator in the Roof of a Brougha 









































































































































































































145 


The elevation is secured by a small rack and prop. 

The closure, (very rarely needed,) is important. If it be 
fixed closely down, the vibration sucks in water during rain, 
and causes dripping. This is avoided if the hook fastener 
fixes' it one-sixth of an inch open. 

In winter the air of the brougham remains quite fresh, even 
with three persons, without the need of opening any side 
windows. The following experiment is interesting:—Travelling 
one frosty day with two companions, and observing the 
windows of other carriages dull with “steam,” whilst my own 
were clear, I closed the roof ventilator, and in five minutes the 
whole of the windows were covered with steam. The ventilator 
was then opened, and in five minutes more three-fourths of 
the windows were clear. 

May not much of the delicacy of hard-worked medical men 
be caused by their breathing in their carriages a deteriorated 
air, with the alternative of draughts, which their enfeebled 
health can ill endure ? May not such a ventilator enable 
them to throw away their respirator ? 

Several medical men in Leeds and elsewhere have adopted 
the roof ventilator. 


14 (5 


A.D DITIOISLAL DEFECTS 

NOT ILLUSTRATED. 

I. 

W.C. ventilated into false roof. 

(Communicated by Mr. A. W. M. Robson, of Leeds). 

Mr. A.’s children had good health until they came to 
live in Leeds, after which they were constantly ailing, and 
one child died of infantile remittent fever. The room 
containing the w.c. was ventilated by a shaft into the false 
roof, beneath which was the nursery. After this shaft had 
been carried completely through the roof into the open air, 
no further sickness occurred during the remainder of their 
stay in Leeds, which was about two years. 


Soil-pipe ventilated into false roof. 

(Communicated by Mr. Dale James, of Sheffield). 

A gutter in the false roof originally conducted the rain¬ 
water to a cistern inside the house. When afterwards the 
cistern was fed from the public water supply, the rain-water 
was diverted from the cistern in the following manner :— 
Instead of being conveyed by a fall-pipe outside the house, 
it was allowed to escape by an open-mouthed pipe ending in 
the top of the soil-pipe, thereby allowing the ascent of all 
the sewer gas from the soil-pipe into the false roof, whence it 
was drawn into the house. 

A second instance of the kind is related to me by Mr. 
M. M. McHardy, of Savile Row, W. In this case an open 
gutter in a bedroom concealed only by boards, after receiving 
the overflow of a cistern and the slops of a sink, discharged 
into a rainfall pipe, which, after receiving the soil-pipe of the 
w.c., ended in a closed drain. The drain and soil-pipe were 
tiius put into direct open communication with the upper rooms 
of the home. 

L 









147 


III. 

Defective Junction of Ventilating Pipe 

with Soil Pipe. 

Not long ago an eminent lawyer and his wife died of 
typhoid fever. 

After this event, it was discovered that a ventilator was 
taken from the upper bend of the soil pipe inside the house, 
and that at the point of junction the soldoring was defective, 
so that the soil pipe really was ventilated directly into the 
house. 

IV. 

Cesspool directly below bedroom window. 

(Communicated by the late Dr. Moore, of Lancaster.) 

A young gentleman who was in the habit of sleeping with 
his window open, was always ill when he came home and 
occupied a certain room. After a time he changed his room 
and the malady ceased. The discovery was then made of a 
large cesspool immediately below his former bedroom window. 

V. 

Foul smell in drawing-room introduced 
by air-brick under the floor. 


(Communicated by Mr. Henry Carr, of 21, Cedars ltoad, 
Clapham, who has kindly sent me a sketch.) 

Foul smell in drawing room. Hollow space under lloor 
ventilated by “air bricks.” Opposite an “air brick” an 
imperfect joint of a fall pipe. Fall pipe leading into a drain 
and cesspool.—“ My attention was first drawn to the rain 
water pipe by observing a cobalt blue mark just above the 
joint.” In this case it would seem that the sewer gas, as it 
escaped from the joint of the fall pipe, was drawn through the 
air brick under the floor, and then between the boards into 
the room .—[Vide Plate III.) 








VI. 


148 


Air-space under dining room floor, used 

for rubbish. 

(Communicated by Mr. R. N. Hartley.) 

Air-space left under dining room with through ventilation 
to keep foundations dry. From this a trap door opening 
into wash kitchen. The former occupants of the house seem 
to have made this space a convenient receptacle for all kinds 
of household rubbish of various degrees of offensiveness. 


VII. 


A continental hotel. 


(Communicated by Mr. Joshua Hartley, Surgeon, of Malton.) 

A hotel abroad with central court (roofed in). In the 
middle of the floor an open grating leading untrapped into a 
drain. Many bedroom windows opening into the court. 


VIII. 


Drain blocked by old wall papers. 


(Communicated by Hr. Fitzgerald, of 8, Palace Road, S.E.) 

An instance of illness, produced by the obstruction of a 
drain in a newly painted and papered house. The workmen 
had disposed of the paper which they scraped from the walls 
by putting it into the drain. 








149 


IX 

House drains sealed up during making 

of new sewer. 

(Communicated by Dr. Clifford Allbutt) 

Cases of drain illness in a house ; the doctor in attendance 
blames the drains; urgent denial; re-assertion; investigation. 
It was found that, in making a new main sewer below the 
level of the old sewer, the workmen had sealed up the portion 
of the old sewer which received the drains of the house, with¬ 
out making any attempt to connect these house drains with 
the new main sewer. 


X. 

Neglect to connect new drains with 

sewer. 


(Communicated by Mr. Robert Hagyard.) 

A new and carefully planned system of sewers was laid 
down in a small town not far from Leeds. The soil-pipes of 
two w.c.’s, together with the sink waste-pipes from a row of 
six houses, were united into one drain which was carried to 
the main sewer. For eight months the sewage collected in 
these pipes, and eventually burst into the cellar of one of the 
houses, which was found to be filled to a depth of two and a 
half feet with nearly solid sewage. It was then discovered 
that the drain of eight-inch pipes had been conveyed to a 
six-inch junction in the main sewer, and that the disc closing, 
temporarily, the junction had never been removed. 





150 


XI. 

Foul Smell drawn into kitchen through 
disconnected waste pipe. 

(Communicated by Mr. Wm. Wailes). 

Bad drain smell in kitchen, especially when a large fire was 
used in cooking. Untrapped waste of sink delivered into the 
open air over a grating which led untrapped into a sewer, 
and, under the influence of the strong indraught of the fire, 
conducted the foul smell into the kitchen. 

XII. 

Soil pipe within a house laid open by a 

falling brick. 

(Communicated by Dr. Swan wick, of West Hartlepool). 

In a house in which great care had been taken to disconnect 
waste and sink pipes, first one daughter, and then a second 
was taken ill with sore throat. The drains, though considered 
perfect, were examined, and a large hole was found in the 
leaden soil pipe, against which was seen a fallen brick. The 
soil pipe, of course, had been boxed off and concealed. 

XML 

W,C. opening out of bedroom. 

Erysipelas. 

Nearly 25 years ago my father attended a gentleman who 
had received a compound fracture of the skull. The gentleman 
went on well for three weeks, and then had erysipelas and 
died. Recently I was able to enquire about the sanitary 
surroundings. A lady who helped to nurse the patient had 
to leave a few days before the gentleman’s death, as she was 
ill with sore throat. She told me that a w.c., generally 
disused, and brought into use during the illness, opened 
directly into the bedroom. 

I have been told of a large country house in which, in the 
state bedroom, there is in the middle of the room a w.c:. 
disguised as an ottoman. Comment on the danger is 
unnecessary. 








XIV. 


Horizontal transmission of sewer gas to 
a room distant twenty-two feet. 


(Communicated by Dr. Oliver, of Harrogate.) 

In the winter of 1878 the atmosphere of his consulting 
room became unpleasant, especially at the end nearest the 
kitchen. Drams were suspected and overhauled, but no 
defect was discovered. There was no drain near the room. In 
the following spring matters became worse, and Dr. Oliver 
had a serious illness of the kind produced by drain poison. 
This led to the examination of the drain in the scullery, 
which was separated from the consulting room by the kitchen. 
The boards were on this occasion taken up, and a hole was 
discovered in the pipe passing from the sink to the drain. 
Previous investigators had been content to look at the trap 
under the sink and “ above board,” and had forgotten or 
never known the lesson tang-lit in Plate XIX. This defect 
was remedied, and all unpleasantness in the consulting room 
ceased. It would seem that the sewer gas had been conveyed 
from the scullery, and past the kitchen, along the rafters 
supporting the floor to the corner of the consulting room, a 
distance of twenty-two feet, and had penetrated the room 
behind the skirting board, which had been loosened by 
hammering during the laying down of some hot water pipes. 




152 


XV. 


Drain Blocked by “Vermin” Traps, 

or Grates. 


Two instances of this intensely stupid arrangement have 
been brought under my notice. 

In order to prevent rats from running up a drain into the 
house, a grating is sometimes inserted into a drain, the 
ingenious authors of this wonderful mechanism forgetting 
that bars which shut out rats will also shut in the solid 
portions of sewage, which in time collect against the grating 
and step it up completely. 

The first instance occurred many years ago in Leeds, and 
was related to me by the son of the occupier of the house. 
His father had a severe attack of erysipelas, and recovered. 
Not long after he had a second attack, which proved fatal. 
During the second illness, at the instance of his medical 
attendants, the drains were examined. It was found that a 
recently constructed w.c. had been connected with an old 
square drain passing under the dining-room, and that this 
drain was blocked in consequence of a grating placed at its 
exit from the house in order to keep out the rats. 

The second case was recently discovered in the house of a 

1/ 

relative of Mr. LI. B. Llewetson, of Leeds. 

Illness led to investigation of drains and the discovery that 
they were blocked by a grating, the bars of which would 
barely admit a knife between them. This had been placed 
in the drain as a protection against “ vermin,'’ 




153 


XVI. 


A County Infirmary. 


I cannot refrain from giving the following graphic account, 
by Mr. W. D. James, of Sheffield, of the conditions discovered, 
not many years ago, in one of our County Infirmaries; 
conditions in many respects no doubt, until recently, to be 
found iu not a small number of our old hospitals; and to be 
found, I strongly suspect, even at the present time, in one of the 
County Asylums. In this Asylum outbreaks of erysipelas 
were still rife a short time ago, but out of tender regard for 
the feelings of the Surveyor, who is responsible for the state of 
the drains, the authorities refused to institute an investigation 
by a competent and independent inspector. 

The letters ABC refer to a ground plan which 
accompanied the letter. 

“ I was house surgeon at the — Infirmary a few years ago, 
and for the greater part of the time suffered from sudden 
attacks of sore throat, accompanied by great prostration. 
These always came on in the night when 1 had gone to bed 
quite well. The nurses were always ailing in the same way. 
In eighteen months we had three distinct epidemics of 
erysipelas, once having to close the accident wards and 
suspend all operations. On examination every w.c. was 
defective, some joints being made of red lead spread on 
brown paper and put round the leaking pipe. After repeated 
appeal on my part, and two or three tinkering attempts to 
remedy the evil,the sewage matter came up as backwash as far as 
the grate at A. Then the authorities consented to spend money. 
The drain was opened at B (in the plan). I found it running 
under the building, an ordinary square stone drain, laid without 
any fall whatever. It was choked with sewage. I found there 
existed a machine for clearing it, an iron chain of which each 
link was a yard long, armed at one end with a kind of scraper. 




154 


This was thrust up the drain link by link, and worked about 
until the drain was thought to he clear. I saw an exactly 
similar machine used for clearing some of the town drains, 
which were in the same state as the one I speak of. The sewer 
was then traced under the wood cellar beneath the Infectious 
Diseases Wards to C, whether manhole or catchpit I could 
not determine, as the drain ran in at one side and out at the 
other close to the bottom. As far as C' the drain pipes, 
which were proper glazed pipes from exit from building, were 
choked with a solid mass of sand, hair, a tea cup, (fact!) 
mixed with ordinary sewage, and so firmly were they filled 
that on being taken up, a mould of the pipes could be shaken 
out. From C' to C" no drain whatever had been laid. From 
C" a good drain ran with a fall of many inches per yard into 
the main sewer. There were no ventilating pipes, no av.c. 
was efficiently trapped, no pipes from housemaids’ sinks were 
trapped at all. The grate A was close beneath the outer door 
of the Accident Ward. The “ new drainfrom C to main 
sewer had been down ten years. 

In addition to all this, the Deadhouse was underneath the 
Infectious Diseases Wards, within ten yards of the windows 
of which were the piggeries. In the summer months every 
drop of water used in the house had to be carried by hand 
from a well sunk in the Killas (an igneous rock) in the very 
middle of the building. 

Many of these defects are now altered. As a commentary, 
I had these repeated throat attacks, and my successor died in 
six weeks, after two days’ illness, from laryngitis ! 


XVII. 


Gibraltar.— A conversation. 

(Communicated by a lady). 

“ Mrs. B, my Gibraltar friend, called yesterday, and told me 
all about her husband’s illness, which was typhoid, as I 
expected. He was nearly at death’s door. I give you part 
of our conversation. 

Mrs. A : Did } r ou find anything wrong with the house ? 

Mrs. B (not understanding) : Wrong with the house! 

Why, it’s one of the nicest houses in Gibraltar. 

*/ ' 

Mrs. A : Oh yes, but did you have the drainage inspected 
with a view to discovering the cause of the disease P 

Mrs. B : Oh no; you see we came away in such a hurry. 

Mrs. A : But you surely do not intend going back to it 
without having an inspection made and getting things put 
right ? 

Mrs. B : Put right! Why, my dear Mrs. A, there cannot 
be much wrong, for the drain is always bursting, then every¬ 
thing has to be carried away. 

Mrs. A: Bursting ! What makes it burst P 

Mrs. B : Oh, because it can’t get away! All the drainage 
is bad at Gibraltar. 

Mrs. A: But perhaps you have no drains at all; and it is 
a cesspool that bursts. 

Mrs. B : Oh no; we have a drain from the house which 
goes to the main sewer in the middle of the road, but it takes 
a sudden bend, where everything stops, then it all bursts up 
near the kitchen door. There really cannot be much wrong 
(she repeated this for the second time), for it bursts about 
once a month. 

This is a good illustration of unconscious ignorance. 

The dear good lady wept over her husband’s sufferings, and 
dwelt on the narrow escape she had had of widowhood, and 
laughed over the bursting of the drain, and would not allow 
her mind to dwell on the possibility of anything being wrong 
there.” 




XVIII. 


Testingfor leakages of sewer-gas in pipes 

and drains. 

I had. ]loped to be able to lay down some definite rules on 
this subject, but, as will have been seen, the kinds of defect 
and points of leakage are so numerous that it is not easy to 
define a test that shall be always easily applicable. 

Some, however, of the most readily available methods may 
be mentioned, such as— 

A.—Those which appeal to the eye, 

ex. gr ., the flame of a lighted taper held over an 
untrapped pipe, or defective joint, or at the crevices in 
the floor covering a defective drain. (Vide plate III.) 
Mr. Wheelhouse, of Leeds, tells me of the successful use of 
burning straw. A drain was opened outside a house and 
straw was burnt inside the drain, and in a short time' the 
smoke was discovered at many points in the house, drawn by 
the fires through defects in pipes and drains. 

5.—Those which appeal to the sense of smell, 

ex. gr., by pouring in at one or more points of the supposed 
defective drain some substance of powerful odour easily 
diffusible, the leaky points may be detected by the strong 
smell. Such are, Ether, the vapour of which is however 
highly inflammable — OiI of mint of the cheap variety, 
convenient, because it is very effective even in small bulk— 
Crude petroleum and common gas liquor useful for 
testing communications of main drains with buildings. 

“ The plan usually adopted is to pour down each manhole 
about 15 gallons of the gas liquor at the highest point of 
each main drain. Then on examination of the drains 
from sinks, baths, and w.c’s., the smell readily betrays 
the communication. The crude tar oil is explosive if a 
light be applied. Gras liquor is not inflammable.” 

(Dr. Crichton Browne.) 



157 


APPENDIX. 

Extracts from bye-laws with respect to new streets and 
buildings, issued by the Council of the Borough of Leeds, 
and allowed by the Local Government Board, July 12, 
1878 

§ 4. No person shall construct any foundation of a new 
building on a site which has been previously used as a place for 
depositing night soil, refuse, or any offensive material which 
may have rendered such site liable to cause buildings erected 
thereon to be unhealthy, until such refuse or offensive 
material shall have been removed to the satisfaction of 
the Corporation, and such site shall not be built upon 
until the same shall have been approved by the Corporation. 

§ 33. The person erecting any new building shall, as 
regards the construction of the drains of such building, comply 
with the requirements hereinafter specified, namely :— 

(a.) He shall cause such building to be provided with 
sufficient drains to carry away the whole of the waste water 
and drainage from such building, and with suitable and 
sufficient spouts and fall pipes for conveying the rain water 
from the roof of such building to the drains. 

(5.) He shall construct the lowest storey of such building 
at such a level as will allow of the construction of a sufficient 
drain from such building with an adequate fall in such drain, 
and so that such drain shall communicate with any sewer 
into which it may discharge, at a point in the upper half 
section of such sewer. 

(c.) If there be no sewer within a distance of 100 feet from 
such building, he shall cause the drains to be taken to a 
cesspool properly constructed in accordance with these Bye- 
Laws. 

(d.) He shall cause the drains of such buildings to be con¬ 
structed of good glazed stoneware pipes or pipes of other 
equally suitable material ; to be not less than 6 inches 
diameter for waste water and water-closet drains, and of not 



less than four inches diameter for rain water drains, to be 
laid with a proper fall and with water-tight socketted or other 
suitable joints. 

(e.) He shall cause the lowest cellar, or basement storey, 
to be provided with a suitable and sufficient drain for the 
effectual drainage thereof. 

(/!) He shall not construct any drain so as to pass under 
any building, except in any case where any other mode of 
construction may be impracticable, and in that case he shall 
cause such drain to be laid in the ground at such a depth 
that there shall be in every part a distance equal at the least 
to the full diameter of the drain, between the top of such 
drain and the finished surface of the ground, and he shall 
cause such drain to be laid in a direct line for the whole 
distance beneath such building, and to be embedded in and 
surrounded with good and solid concrete at least six inches 
thick all round. 

(y.) He shall in the case of any back-to-back house, which 
is unprovided with any open space appurtenant thereto, cause 
the inlet to the drain or drains from such house to be at a 
point, as near as may be practicable to any external wall of 
such house, and he shall cause such inlet to be provided with 
a suitable trap. 

He shall cause every pipe for conveying waste water from 
such house to the drain, to discharge immediately into the 
trap. 

He shall also cause such waste pipe to be of lead or iron, 
and of not less than two inches diameter interior measure¬ 
ment. 

(h.) He shall not construct in the drains any right angled 
junction, whether vertical or horizontal, but he shall cause 
every branch or tributary drain to join another drain obliquely 
in the direction of the Aoav of such drain. 

(t.) He shall not allow any inlet to any drain to be made 
within any building, except such inlet as may be necessary 
from the apparatus of any water-closet, and he shall cause 


159 


the waste pipe from every sink, hath, or lavatory, the over¬ 
flow pipe from any cistern and every pipe for carrying off 
waste water, to be furnished with a syphon trap, and to be 
taken through an external wall of such building, and to 
discharge in the open air over a channel leading to a trapped 
gulley grating. Provided that the requirements of this clause 
shall not apply in the case of any back-to-back house, which 
is unprovided with any open space appurtenant thereto. 

(/.) He shall in every case cause the drains to be furnished 
with a shaft from the exterior drain, not less than two inches 
and a half in diameter, communicating with the outer air 
above the eaves spouts. 

(A*.) He shall cause the drains to be efficiently trapped at 
some point near to their outfall, and he shall cause suitable 
and sufficient means of ventilation to be provided in such 
drains. He shall also cause every inlet to such drains, except 
such as may be provided for the ventilation thereof, to be 
properly trapped. 

§ 34. Before commencing the erection of a new building in 
any street, the Owner or Builder shall, if there be a main sewer 
or drain within 100 feet of the site of such new building, 
make a connecting drain or sewer from such site to such main 
sewer or drain at such a depth as to carry off from the lowest 
excavations for a basement of such new building all the water 
capable of being carried off by such sewer or drain, and shall 
thereby or otherwise prevent such water from flowing into the 
basement of cellars of any adjoining or neighbouring buildings 
or into the walls thereof. 

§ 35. No person shall construct a Cesspool in any case where 
an accessible outlet sewer is situated within 100 feet from the 
dwelling-house or building to be drained. 

§ 36. Every person who shall construct a Cesspool in connec¬ 
tion with a building shall construct such Cesspool at a distance 
of 15 feet at the least from a dwelling-house or public building, 
or any building in which an}^ person may be, or may be 
intended to be employed in any manufacture, trade, or business. 


160 


§ 37. A person who shall construct a Cesspool in connection 
with a building shall not construct such Cesspool within the 
distance of 18 feet from any water supplied for use, or used, 
or likely to he used by man for drinking or domestic purposes, 
or for manufacturing drinks for the use of man, or otherwise 
in such a position as to endanger the pollution of any such water. 
Provided always that the foregoing requirements shall not 
apply where such water is supplied by the Corporation and 
conveyed in metal pipes. 

§ 38. Every person who shall construct a Cesspool in connec¬ 
tion with a building, shall construct such Cesspool in such a 
manner and in such a position as to afford ready means of 
access to such Cesspool, for the purpose of cleansing such 
Cesspool and of removing the contents thereof, and in such a 
manner and in such a position as to admit of the contents of 
such Cesspool being removed therefrom, and from the premises 
to which such Cesspool may belong without being carried 
through any dwelling-house or public building, or any 
building in which any person my he or may he intended to 
be employed in any manufacture, trade, or business. 

He shall not in any case construct such Cesspool so that it 
shall have, by drain or otherwise, any outlet into or means 
of communication with any sewer. 

§ 39. Every person who shall construct a Cesspool in con¬ 
nection with a building, shall construct such Cesspool of good 
brickwork in cement properly rendered inside with cement, 
and with a backing of at least 9 inches of well puddled clay 
around and beneath such brickwork. 

He shall also cause such Cesspool to he arched or otherwise 
properly covered over, and to he provided with adequate 
means of ventilation. 

§ 40. Every person who shall construct a Water-closet or 
Earth-closet in a building shall construct such Water-closet or 
Earth-closet in such a position that one of its sides, at the 
least, shall he an external wall. 


161 


§ 53. Every person who shall construct a water-closet in 
connection with a building used or intended to be used as a 
dwelling-house or shop, shall cause such water-closet to be 
provided "with a 4-inch internal diameter soil pipe of lead or 
iron, which shall be continued upwards without diminution 
of its diameter and (except where unavoidable) without any 
bend or angle being formed in such soil pipe to such a 
height, and in such a position as to afford, by means of the 
open end of such soil pipe, a safe outlet for sewer air. 

§ 58. Every person who shall intend to let for occupation, or 
being the owner thereof, shall occupy as a dwelling-house 
any new building of which the rateable value is under £20, 
shall give seven clear days’ notice thereof to the Corporation. 
Such notice shall not be given until the building is actually 
completed, and shall he delivered at the office of the Building 
Inspector of the Sanitary Authority, at Leeds, and such 
building shall not he occupied as a dwelling-house until the 
drainage thereof has been made and completed, or until such 
building has after examination been certified by the Surveyor 
to he fit for human habitation, and the Surveyor shall give 
a certificate to that effect if he is satisfied after examination 
that such building is fit for human habitation. 

§ 65. Such person shall also, before proceeding to cover up 
any sewer or drain, or any foundation of a Building, deliver or 
send, or cause to he delivered or sent to the said Surveyors, 
two days’ notice in writing, in which shall he specified the 
date on which such person will proceed to cover up such 
sew T er, drain, or foundation. 


162 


INDEX. 


The Roman numerals refer to the Plates , the small figures to the pages of 

descriptive Utter-press. 


Additions to house, built over forgotten drains, XXXVII., 75 
Age of leaden soil-pipes, danger from, XXIV., 49 

Air, fresh, howto admit into carriages, LXX., 143; into rooms, LXVIII., 
137, HI., 5. 

-from drains circulating through house, III., 5 (see also Seiver-gos) 

-, provisions for admission of, III., 5, LXVIII., 137 

-, quantity required to feed chimney, III , 5 

Air-brick giving passage to sewer-gas, 148 
Air-grate for passage of air through soil-pipe, XX. (2), 41 
Angles, pipes joined at, cause of leakage, XLVI., 93 
Arsenical wall-papers, their dangers, LXVII., 135 
Ash-pit, refuse from, for mortar and plaster, LV,, 111 

Basin and syphon to replace pan-closet, XXI. (2), 43 
Bath, pipes from, badly arranged, VII. (A, B, C), 13, I., 1 

-, properly arranged, VII. (D), 13, II., 3 

-, waste-pipe into drain cut off and left open, XV., 29 

-■, opening untrapped into fall-pipe, XVI., 31; into soil-pipe, 

I., 1 

Bedroom-window, sewer-gas passing into, from fall-pipe, XVII., 33 
Bedrooms, passage of sewer-gas into, XIII. 25, IX. 17, XI., 21, XII., 23, 
XV., 29, XVI., 31, XVII. 33, XVIII., 36, XX., 39, XXIV., 49, XXX., 
61, LXII., 125, XXXI., 63, XL. 81, XLIX., 99, LXIII., 127, 147, 148 

Beer tainted by sewer-gas in larder, XXVI., 53 
Bell-trap, illusory protection afforded by, L., 101 
Bend properly formed in drain-pipes, XLVI., 93 

-, sudden, causing bursting of pipes, 155 

“Black damp” caused by escape of sewage, XXIV., 49 
Boiler, water in, fouled by sewer-gas, XIV., 27 
Brougham, window-ventilator in roof of a, LXX., 143 
Burning straw, smoke from, to detect leakage of sewer-gas, 156 
Bursting of drains at Gibraltar, 155 

Butler falling into unsuspected cesspool in wine-cellar, XXXVIII., 77 
Bye-laws of the Borough of Leeds, extracts from, 157 

Candle-flame at key-hole, lessons to be learnt from, III., 5 

_for detection of flaws in joints, XLV., 91, 156 

Carr, Mr. H., on arsenical wall-papers, 135 

M 












163 


Cellars damp from slop water, LXL, 123 
-, sewage in, XXXVI., 73, 150 ; LIV. 


109 


Cesspool below bedroom-window, 147 

-, chinks in side of, LXIV., 129; faulty to laundry, LXIV., 129; 

formed by leaking pipes, XLVI., 93 ; by obstructed pipe, LXIII., 127 ; 
by termination of drain-pipe, 73; formed in disused well under house, 
XXXIX , 79 ; formed under hall by leaking stone drain, XL., 81 

-overflowing into basement of house, XXXVI., 73, 119; into rain¬ 
water tank, XXXI., 63; XXXV., 71 ; into well, XXXIII., 67 

—— - under new dining-room, XXXVII., 75; unsuspected in wine-cellar, 
XXXVIII., 77 ; unventilated save into house or through fall-pipe, 42, 
XXXI., 63 


Cesspools in Edinburgh, 119 

-, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 159, 160 

-under London houses, LIX., 119 

Chimney, ventilating pipe of dra'n ending in, XVIII. (A), 35 

--near top of, XVIII. (B), 35 

Churchyard, infiltration from, into cellars, LX., 121 


Cistern for house distinct from w.C. cistern, II., 3 


■ overflow pipe from, passing into open air, XX. (2), 41 ; into soil-pipe, 

XX. (1), 41, 43 

-supplying boiler, overflow pipe from, passing direct into drain, 

XIV., 27 

Common sanitary faults of ordinary houses, I., 1 

Connection, defective, of waste-pipe, XLIV , 89 

Continental health resorts, their dangers, LXII., 125 

Continental hotel, drain in central court of. 148 

Cotton-wool for exclusion of dust in ventilation, LXIX., 141 

County Infirmary, condition of drains in a, 153 

Covering of drains, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 161 

Crowbar, tapping with, to discover spaces under stone floor, XXX., 61 

Curves in drains made by straight pipe’, XLVI., 93 


Dairies, fissures leading to drains in floors of, for sweepings, XXVII., 56 

-Sanitary inspection of, why necessary, XXXIV., 69 

Dangers from neighbours’ drains, XLII., 85 

Dead-house in Hospital, under infectious diseases wards, 154 

Defective junction of pipes and drains, I., 1. (see also Junctions) 

“Diffuser,” (Harding’s), for preventing draughts, LXVIII., 139 
Dining-room over cesspool, XXXVII., 75 

Diphtheria from sewage-emanations, XXXVI., 73, in houses with manure 
heap against wall, LXV., 131. 

Dirt, how to exclude in ventilating rooms, LXVIII., 137 
Disconnection of waste-pipes from drain-pipes, V., 9 
Dish-stone in larder leading to drain, XXVI., 53 

-scullery leading to rain-water tank, with overflow direct into 

drain, XXVIII., 57 

Drain carried across upper part of well, XXXIV., 69 
-over instead of through a rock, LIL, 105 

-common stone, under tiled hall leaking and forming a cesspool, XL., 81 

--communicating with rain-water tank, XXVIII., 57 

















164 


Drain, damage to by rats’ runs, XXXII., 05 

-, fall of, defective, XLIX., 99, LIII., 107 

-, how to tap, XLVIL, 95 

-led up hill, XLIX., 99, LXIV., 129, 95 

-made of imperfect tubes, XLIV., 89, XLIII., 87 

-- not connected with main sewer, 89, 149, 150 

-outside house, XX., 41, II., 3 

-, settling of, and leakage from, LXI., 123 

-terminating in soil and forming cesspool, 73 

-- under house, and obstructed, LXIII., 127, 153, and with joints 

leaking, I. 1 

-ventilated into roof, I. 1, 146 

Drainage at Gibraltar, 155 

-defects of, how influencing vaccination, LXVI., 133 

Drain-pipes, defective, trade in, XLIII,, 87 ; disconnected and Disconnected, 
L. 101 ; imperfect and with unluted joints, XLIV., 89, XLIX., 99 ; 
leaking into well, XXXII., 65, XXXIX., 79; materials for joining, 

117. 

Drain-w r ork, how “scamped,” XLIII., 87, XLIX., 99, XLIV., 89. 

Drains, obstructions in (see Obstructions) how to test for, LXIV., 129 

- of buildings, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 157 

-of house sealed-up during making of new sewer, 149 

-, search for, in absence of plans, LVIL, 115 

Draughts, irregular, in rooms, how to stop, III., 5, LXVIII.. 137 
Drawn lead-pipes, their advantages, XXIV., 49 
Dust, how to exclude from glass-cases, LXIX., 141 

Earth-closets in buildings, Leeds Bye-law regarding, ICO 

Edinburgh, old cesspools under houses in, 119 

Erysipelas due to bad drainage, XVI., 31, XLIX., 99, 152, 153 

.-attending vaccination, due to cesspool under window, LXVI , 133 

Ether poured into drain to detect leakage in drain-pipes, 156 
Evaporation of water in traps, a cause of escape of sewer-gas, IX., 17 
Exclusion of dirt from air supplied to rooms, LXVIII., 137 
Eyelet for new junction in pipe already laid, XLVII., 96 

Fall, defective, of drain, XLIX , 99, LIII., 107, I., 1, 153 

Fall of pipe from water-tank to sewer in -wrong direction, XXXV, 71 

Fall-pipe communicating directly with the drain, XVI., 31, XVII., 33 

■- conducting foul air from tank, I., 1, XXXI., G3 

- discharging into gulley, II., 3 

False roof, w.c. ventilated into, 146 ; soil-pipe ventilated into, 146 

Fires, effect of, in drawing air from drains, IV., 7 

Flame of candle, as indicating source of air supplied, III., 5 

-to detect leakage of sewer-gas, 156 

“ Floral Art Ventilator,” 140 

Foundations, sinking of, a cause of open pipe-joints, XLI., 83 
Freshness of atmosphere in rooms, means for securing, LXVIII., 139 

Gas liquor for testing for leakages in drain-pipes, 156 


















Gibraltar, condition of drains in, 155 

Glass-cases, exclusion of dust from, LXIX., 141 

Grates, open, in cellar, for purpose of swilling floor, XXVI., 53 

Gratings in drains obstructing flow, 152 

Graveyard, infiltration from, into cellars, LX., 121 

Gullies, description of, V., 9 

-, Leeds Bye-laws relating to, 159 

-, their advantages, II., 3, V., 9, 31 

Hall, cesspool formed under, by leaking stone drain, XL., 81 
“ Harding’s Diffuser,” for preventing draughts, LXVIII., 139 
Highland Shooting Lodge, defects of drainage in, LXIV., 129 
Holes in pipes for junctions, XLVII., 95 

-caused by rats, XIX., 37, 151 

Hot-bed against side of house, ill effects of, LXV., 131 
Hotel, Continental, drains in, 148 

House costing £3000, but with drains of “seconds ” pipes, S9 
-drain, proper position of, II., 3 

-under floor of room, I., 1 ; under house, XLIX., 99; LI., 103 

-with every sanitary arrangement faulty, I., 1 

-faulty sanitary arrangements avoided, II., 3 

Houses built on unhealthy rubbish heaps, LVI., 113 
-, necessity for plans of drains of, LVII., 115 

Housemaid’s sink, untrapped, and discharging into soil-pipe, XIJI., 25, I., 1 
-, water from, keeping cellar damp, LXI., 123 


Illness after vaccination, from drainage faults, LXVI., 133 

-caused by old papers remaining on walls, 135 ; from arsenical wall 

papers, LXVII., 135 

-instances of, due to sewage emanations, LII., 105, LX., 121, LXI., 

123, 99, 103, 105, 146, 147, 149,151, 153 (see also Typhoid Fever, Ery¬ 
sipelas , etc.) 


“Jerry builders” and their dealings, XLIII., 87 ; LV., Ill ; LVI., 113 
“Jerry veal” and its analogies in the building trade, XLIII., 87 

Joints, imperfect, of soil-pipe allowing escape of sewer-gas into house XX. (1) 
39, XLV., 91 ; of fall-pipe leading to drain, XVI., 31, 14S 

-of drain gaping, from sinking of foundations, XLI., 83, XLII., 85, 

LXI., 123 

-of soil-pipe made of brown paper and red lead, 153 

“Junctions ” badly made, XLVII. (A), 95, L., 101 ; proper, XLVII. (B), 95; 
broken pipes at, XLIX., 99, XXXIX., 79 ; complete absence of, LI., 
103; defective, of ventilating pipe with soil-pipe, 147 


Keeping cellar, untrapped sink-stone in, XXV., 51 

Kitchen and larder fouled by sewage-emanations, LXII., 125, XXXVI., 73 

-, passage of sewer-gas into, through overflow-pipe of cistern 

XIV., 27 

Kitchen-sink trapped and disconnected from drain, II., 3 
.-untrapped, VI., 11, I., 1, 31 


















166 


Lady’s, A, method of testing and inspecting drains, LXIV., 129 

Lavatories and baths, defects in, and how to remedy, VII., 13 

Lavatory in bedroom trapped, but discharging into soil-pipe of w.c., XII., 23 

-, overflow of, joining waste-pipe below trap, X., 19 

-, waste-pipe of, passing untrapped into drain-pipe, XL, 21, I., 1 

-, properly trapped, II., 3 

Lead-pipes, age of, XX., 39 ; eaten through by rats, XIX., 37 : by sewer-gas, 
XX., 39; joined with putty, XLV., 91 j seams in, XX., 39 

Leakage into soil from pipes laid the wrong way, XLVIII., 97 

-of sewer-gas in pipes and drains, how to test for, 156, XIX., 37, 

III., 5, XLV., 91, XXIV., 49 

Leeds, Borough of, extracts from Bye-laws of, 157 
Lime from tan-pits used for making mortar, LV., Ill 
London houses, old cesspools under, LIX., 119 

Luting, drain-pipes without, XLIX., 99; lead-pipe passed into drain-pipe 
without, XLIV., 89 

Manure, soakings from, entering wells, XXXIV., 69 
Manure-heap against house wall, LXV., 131 

Mayfair, discovery of pit containing remains of cattle under house in, 119 
Meat tainted by sewer-gas in larder, XXVI., 53 

Milk made poisonous by use of contaminated well-water, XXXIV., 69 
Milk tainted by drains of dairy, XXVII., 55 
-sewer-gas in larder, XXVI., 53 

Mortar made from lime used in tan-pits, 111 ; from road-scrapings and 
midden refuse, LV., Ill 

Museums, how to exclude dust from cases in, LXIX., 141 


Neighbours’ drains, dangers from, XLII., 85 

New drains not connected with sewer, 150, LI., 103 

New made ground, drains in, precautions regarding, XLI., 83 

Nursery, sewer-gas in, LXVI., 133, 146 

Obliteration of old drains and cesspools, necessity for, XXXVII., 75 

Obstruction to flow of sewage, from carrying 12-inch pipes into 2-inch ones, 
109 ; from improper junctions, XLVII., 96, XLIV., 89, L., 101 ; from 
interpolating 6-inch pipe between two smaller ones, LIV., 109 ; from 
old wall-papers being thrown into drain, 149 ; from roots in pipes, 
LVIII., 117, LXIV., 129 ; from sand, hair, &c., 154; from settling of 
pipes, LXI., 123 ; from sudden bends, 155 ; from taking curved 
tubes over rock, LII. (A), 105 ; from vermin traps or grates, 152 

Occupation of new houses, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 161 
Oil of mint poured into drains to detect leakage in pipes, 156 

Open drain-joints, from giving way of foundation, XLI., 83, XLII., 85 ; from 
imperfections of tubes, XLIV., 89; from pipes laid the wrong way, 
XLVIII., 97 ; from putty-joints, XLV., 91 ; from using straight tubes 
for curves, XLVI., 93; from want of luting, XLIX., 99; how to detect, 
XIX., 37, 156 

Outlet for sewer-air from W.C., Leeds Bye-law regarding, 161 
Overflow-pipe from cesspool at higher level than inlet, LXIV., (2) 129 

-of bath into soil-pipe VII. (A, B), 13, I., 1 

.---open air, VII. (C, D), 13, II., 3 










Overflow-pipe of cistern into drains, XIV., 27, XX., 41, IX., 17. L, 1, A3 
-open air, II., 3 

Pan-closet, XXI., 43, XX., 39, I., 1 

-substitute for, XXI., 43, XX., 39 

Paper containing arsenic on walls of room, LXVII., 135 

-, old, on walls of room, 135 

Petroleum for testing for leakages in drain-pipes, 156 
Piggeries close to Hospital windows, 154 
Pipe, 6 inch between two smaller pipes, LIV., 109 
Pipes, damaged, used for drains, XLIV., 89 

-laid with flange downhill, XLVIII., 97 

Plan of drains seldom possessed by owner or tenant, LVII., 115 

Plaster made from lime from tan-pits, 111; from road-scrapings and midden 
refuse, LV., Ill 

Puerperal fever due to defective drainage, LXIII., 127 
Putty-joints in leaden soil-pipes, XLV., 91, XX., 39 

Rain-water tank under floor, I., 1 

-with overflow direct into drain or cesspool, XXVIII., 57, 

XXXI., 63, XXXV., 71, I., 1 

-without overflow-pipe, XXIX., 59 

Rats, appearance of, in kitchens, lesson to be learnt from, XIX., 37, 89 

-, damage to leaden-pipes, caused by, XIX., 37, 

-, runs made by, causing drain-joints to open, XXXII., 65 

Road-scrapings for mortar and plaster, LV., Ill 
Roof-light and ventilation for a brougham, LXX., 143 
Roots of trees blocking drains, LVIII., 117, LXIV., 129 
Rubbish-lieaps, houses built on, LVI., 113 

Sanitary inspection of dairies, necessity for, XXXIV., 69 
Save-all tray beneath W.C., with untrapped waste-pipe, XXII., 45 

-of bath-taps untrapped and passing into soil-pipe, VII. (C), 13, 

1,1 

-properly trapped and passing into gulley, II., 3 

VII. (D), 13 

Scamped drain-work, XLIV., 89, XLV, 91, XLVI., 93, LI., 103, L, 101, 
XLIX, 99, XLVII, 95, LII, 105, LIII, 107, LIV, 109 

Screen in ventilator for cleansing air, LXVIII, 137 

“Scribner’s Monthly Magazine” remarks in, on pan-closet, 43 ; on sanitary 
condition of Xew York, 113 

“ Seconds,” or defective drain-pipes, use of, XLIII, 87, XLIV, 89 
Sewage, escape of, from defective fall, XLIX, 99, LIII, 107 

-, how it may gain access to water, XXXII, 65, XXXIII, 67, 

XXXIV, 69 

Sewage, liquid, escape of, through defective junction, XLIX, 99 ; through 
old leaden soil-pipe, XXIV, 49 

-, passage of, into disused well, XXXIX, 79 ; into rain-water tank, 

XXXI, 63, XXXV, 71 

-, saturating soil under cellar, LI, 103; under kitchen, XLIV, 89, 

93 ; under ground-floor, LII, 105, LXII, 125, I, 1, XXIV, 49, 
XXXVI, 73, XL, 81, XLI, S3, XLIX, 99 














Sewer-gas, diffusion of, through walls, XLII., S5 

-, escape of, from pipes, how to detect, 156, XIX., 37, XXIV., 49, 

III., 5 


Sink, 


IX., 17 


, sometimes due to evaporation of water in syphon-trap, 


-, through defective joints in fall-pipe, XVI., 31; in soil- 

pipe, XX. (1), 39, XLII., 85, XLIV., 89, XLV. 91 
— passing horizontally to a room 22 feet distant, 151 

-into boiler, through over-flow pipe of cistern, XIV., 27 ; 

into chimney through ventilating pipe of drain, XVIII., 35 ; into false 
roof, 146 


--into house, from cesspool formed under hall, XL., 82 ; 

under dining-room, XXXVII., 75 ; near bedroom window, 147 ; from 
disused well near defective drains, XXXIX., 79 ; from rain-water 
tank connected with drain, XXX., 61 

-into house, through air-brick near defective joint of fall- 

pipe, 148; through chimney from ventilator of drain, XVIII., 35 : 
through unconnected soil-pipe, LI., 103; through dish-stone in larder, 
XXVI., 53 


-into house through fall-pipe and ventilator of soil pipe 

opening near bedroom window, XVII., 33 ; through holes in soil-pipe, 
XXIV., 49 ; through kitchen sink-pipe, IV., 7; through overflow-pipe 
of cistern, XX., 41 ; of lavatory, X., 19 ; of rain-water tank, XXXI., 
63; through untrapped sink-pipe, XIII., 25, I., 1 ; through untrapped 
waste-pipe of lavatory, XI., 21, I., 1, LXVI., 133 

discharging into fall-pipe, feeding tank under room, 59 ; into soft- 
water cistern under cellar floor, XXIX., 59 


-over grating of untrapped drain, XXV., 52 

-, waste-pipe, from, cut off and left open, XV., 29 

Sink-pipe passing into open mouth of drain-pipe, XIX., 37, XX V, 51 

Sinkstones in cellars, their dangers, XXVI., 53 

Sites for buildings, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 157 

Sitting-room, soil-pipe in corner of, XXIII., 47 

Soil-pipe broken at junction with drain, XX., 39, XXXIX., 79 

-communicating with upper rooms of house, 146 

-, holes in, from age, XXIV., 49 

-— inside house, XX., 39, I., 1, XXIII., 47, XXIV., 49 

-, joints of, defective, XX. (1), 39, I., 1, XXXII., 65, XXXIV., 69, 

XL., 81, XLII., 85, XLIV., 89, XLV., 91, XLVI., 93 

--missing drain-pipe and discharging contents below ground-floor, 

LIL, 105 

-not ending in sewer, but terminating in mass of solid rock, LI., 103 

-outside house, II., 3, XX. (2), 41, XXI., 43 

Soil Pipe terminating above eaves XX., (2) 41. 

-unventilated, XX. (1) 41 

-ventilated into false roof, 146 ; into house, 147 

-ventilator of, terminating just below bedroom window, XVII. (B) 33 

Sore throat from sewage-emanations, XXXVI., 73, IV., 7 
Sounding floor of cellars, necessity for, XXX., 61, XXXVIII., 77 
Speculating builders : their bargains, XLIII., 87, XLIV., 89, LV., Ill 
Syphon sanitary basins for w.c., XXI., 45, XX., 39 
Syphon-trap, effect of absence of, IV., 7 
-. to cut off sewer-gas from soil pipe, XX. (2), 41 


























169 


Tank connected with w.c. overflowing into room, LXII., 125 
Tea cup, a, obstructing drains, 154 

Testing for leakages of sewer-gas, methods of, 156, XIX., 37, XXIV., 49, 
XLV., 91 

Tobin’s ventilating tube, LXVIII., 137 
Traps, disused, dangers from, IX., 17 

-unsyphoned, how produced and remedy for, VIII., 15 

Typhoid fever at Gibraltar, 155 

-from drinking water polluted by typhoid discharges, XXXII., 

65; polluted by sewage, XXXIII., 67, XXXIV., 69 

--emanations from tank connected with w.c., LXII., 125 

_receiving washings of sink, XXIX., 59 

-leaking drains, XLII., 85 

-milk kept in foul dairy, XXVI., 53, XXVII., 55 

--- sewer-gas from cesspool overflowing into basement, 

XXXVI., 73 

---through water-traps, 42 

--under dining room, XXXVII., 

75 

-from obstructed pipes, LIV., 109 

--soil pipe, 147 

-unsuspected tank connected with drain, 

XXX., 61. 

-through fall-pipe, XVII., 33 

-untrapped waste-pipe, L., 101 

-ventilating pipe of drain ending in 

chimney, XVIII., 35 

Vaccination and drainage faults, LXVI., 133 
Ventilating shaft ending in chimney, XVIII. (A), 35 

-near top of chimney, XVIII. (B), 35 

-window, XVII. (B), 33 

Ventilating tube on drain side of syphon-trap, XX. (2), 42 
Ventilation, how to effect at small cost, III., 5; of carriages, LXX., 143; 
without dirt, LXVIII., 137 

-of soil-pipes, II. 3, XVII., 33, XX. (2), 42, I., 1, LXIV., 129, 159 

Ventilator, Floral Art, 140 

Ventilators, passive, conditions for efficiency of, 140 
Vicarage, cellars in, “ standing in water,” LXI., 1?3 

-rendered unhealthy by adjoining grave-yard, LX., 121 

Villages, drinking water in, XXXII., 65 

YVall blackened by sewage, XXIV., 49 

-soaked through by manure, LXV., 131 

Wall-papers, containing arsenic, illness from, LXVII., 135 

--— thrown into and obstructing drains, 149 

Walls of rooms, old paper remaining on, LXVII., 135 

-, passage of sewage through, XLII., 85, XLVI., 93 

-plastered with mud and midden refuse, LV., Ill 

Waste-pipe of bath and sink cut off, pipe open, XV., 29 




























170 


Waste-pipe of bath trapped, II., 3, VII., 13 ; untrapped, I., 1 , XVI., 31, 
LXVI., 133 

-of kitchen sink, untrapped, IV., 7, L., 101 

-of lavatory untrapped, I., 1, VII. (A), 13, LXVI., 133 

-projecting into drain-pipe so as to cause obstruction, XLIV., 89 

Waste-water from sink-pipe discharged into soft water cistern, XXIX., 59 

-untrapped drain, XXV., 51 

Water from boiler contaminated by sewer-gas, XIV., 27 

- closet, faulty position of, XX. (1), 39, I., 1, XL., 81, LIX., 119 ; 

improved, XXI. (2), 43 ; proper position of, II., 3, XX. (2), 39 ; old, 
in centre of house, XXIV., 49 ; six in centre of house, LXIII., 128 ; 
ventilated into false roof, 146 

-cistern, with overflow into soil-pipe, I., 1 

Water-closet, faulty, XX. (1), 39 ; XXI. (1), 43, I., 1 

-with the faults remedied, XX. (2), 41, XXI. (2), 43, II., 3 

Water-closets, state of, in a County Infirmary, 153 

-, position and construction of, Leeds Bye-laws regarding, 160 

Water-tank, disused and unsuspected, under cellar floor, XXX., 61 

-tightness of joints reduced by improper laying of pipes, XLVIII., 97 

Well in or near farmyard receiving soakings from manure, XXXIV., 69 
-polluted by sewage, XXXII., 65, XXXIII., 68, XXXIV., 69 

-(disused) under house fouled by leakage from defective drain, 

XXXIX., 79 

Wells, with drains carried through side of or across, XXXIV., 69 
Willow roots obstructing drains, LVIII., 117, LXIV. (A), 129 
Window-ventilator in roof of a brougham, LXX., 143 
Windows, admission of foul air into, from fall-pipe, XVII. (A), 33, I.. 1 

-ventilator of soil-pipe, XVII. (B), 33 

Wine-cellar, unsuspected cesspool in, XXXVIII., 77 

Wire with baize, for admission of air and exclusion of dust, LXIX., 141 



5 


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CHARLES GOODALL, PRINTER, COOKRIDGE STREET, LEEDS. 







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